Wed. Sept. 8, 2021: Regular Meeting Online 10:30 AM via Zoom |
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Assistance League of Hawaii - September 2021 |
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Transforming Lives - Strengthening Community |
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"We're the member volunteers from Assistance League of Hawaii. Aloha!" |
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Catching up with the News |
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The more things change, the more they stay the same….. COVID!
September is the month when we ask you to donate to “Give Aloha”, Foodland’s fundraiser that brings additional funds to our organization. We ask that you participate in the Give Aloha program. Please see Gloria McGehee-Koel’s article under Resource Development for details. A big thank you to Dot Mason for once again recommending Assistance League for the George Mason Grant of the Hawaii Community Foundation of $20,000. The donation goes directly to Operation School Bell and will be a tremendous help.
Autumn is back to school for our keiki and the usual start of in-store shopping for Operation School Bell. Due to COVID-19 concerns, Operation School Bell will focus instead on school logo shirt donations. Laurelyn Berger and Andrea Cyriacks, are heading the program this year.
The next few meetings will probably be electronic. If you still need a short lesson on Zoom, please reach out to me either at the shop 946-1505 or by email althrift281@gmail.com and we can set a convenient time to meet one-on-one to install and tweak this fun way of communicating.
As we start our programs for 2021-2022, there are still some positions needing leadership for our board. Open positions are Historian, Hospitality, Circle Fund, and We Care. Historian is the electronic keeper of the photos anyone takes during the year. Hospitality will coordinate member meeting locations once the COVID numbers come down. Circle Fund is the advocate in our chapter for the fundraising arm of our National organization. We Care needs a coordinator at the top for their strong committee. All We Care programs will remain active this year. Please consider a leadership role.
Luckily for us, Assistance League of Hawaii programs and practices are adaptable. This newsletter is full of information on those changes and challenges for this upcoming year.
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The annual community matching gifts program honors Foodland of Hawaii's founder Maurice J. "Sully" Sullivan. The program continues his legacy of giving back to the community and supports the Assistance League of Hawaii's philanthropic programs for our keiki.
The goal is to increase participation. Let your friends and relatives know about KWAK / Give Aloha. Everyone can participate by making a purchase at any Foodland, Foodland Farms or Sack N' Save stores and adding a donation of up to $249 on their Maka'i rewards card.
This year our banner is hanging at the Kailua Foodland supermarket. Assistance League of Hawaii's number is 77759.
The Resource Committee new team for 2021-2022 include member volunteers Linda Andersen, Carol Hasegawa, Joan Helbling, Gloria McGehee-Koel, Hazel Sumile, and Helen Taufaasau. They have joined me in the planning and coordination for a number of events this coming year with KWAK / Give Aloha being the first.
This committee is responsible for the following events for the year; Foodland's Give Aloha, Change for Change, Amazon Smile, Grants, Visitor's Industry Charity Walk, and new projects. The goals of the Resource Committee are:
- To focus on increasing the level of participation among Assistance League of Hawaii members.
- To increase participation with family, friends, and acquaintances.
- To build a team approach in accomplishing the projects.
- To create a "fun environment" for all.
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Philanthropic Programs Update |
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As this year’s Philanthropic Program Chair, I’d like to let you know of the following updates on each program:
OPERATION SCHOOL BELL®: Chair: Laurelyn Berger / Vice Chair: Andrea Cyriacks: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic there have been no in-store shopping events. This will be the case until otherwise notified. Fifty-one qualified schools received letters on the budget for their school for shirts that Assistance League of Hawaii will be donating along with the deadline date to order. Thirty-four schools have responded. Eight schools have placed their orders.
OPERATION WILDLIFE: Chair: Helen Sumile: The program is currently inactive with no plans to begin presentations with the schools in the near future. Hopefully, in the spring of 2022 the program may return to Oahu schools with some modification on sharing our bio-facts/artifacts in a “viewing only” format. The Operation Wildlife video produced earlier this year is still accessible through our website.
SHARE: Chair: Karen Kehoe; Vice-Chair: Marty Kehoe. Assistance League of Hawaii continues to donate to Helping Hands Hawaii regularly and is also sending donations to River of Life.
WE CARE: “Acting Chair”: Mary Monohon: Over the summer, four Hale Kipa young adults were served with household goods. Shriners Hospital was replenished with materials for their children’s activities. Kapiolani Medical Center received more layette packages at the start of this month. On October 26, there will be a layette packing party. Please contact Mary Monohon to participate.
We Care also needs a chairperson to coordinate the six programs which have designated member volunteers doing the work. Please contact Mary Monohon.
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Marketing Building Awareness For
Assistance League of Hawaii
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The Marketing Committee is set up and rolling. Our volunteer marketing team members are:
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Linda McColgan - Marketing Committee Chair, Minor website and blog updates
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Melvin Ah Ching - Vice Chair, Website Administrator, Facebook, Newsletter editor, Photographer/Videographer
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Jodie Mori - Press Releases, Snacks
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Lisa Nay - Facebook, Photographer/Videographer
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Mary Monohon - Ex-officio
Committee members are responsible for planning and communicating with the President, the program committees, member volunteers and disseminating information about Assistance League of Hawaii through various media platforms.
Lisa updates Facebook most days that she is in the Thrift Store. Jodie is preparing to support a Lullaby Layette Press Release to complement some short videos that we are planning with Carol Jones.
We welcome any and all marketing ideas for the Assistance League of Hawaii. We want to respect what has been done in the past and avoid re-inventing the wheel.
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A QR code has been created to quickly access the Assistance League of Hawaii website with a smartphone. What is a QR code? It is a type of barcode that can be scanned by certain smartphone applications to direct users to a website or display other useful information. How to use a QR code: Point your Smart phone camera at the QR code, a message will pop-up, select it and the content will then open. Many businesses are using QR codes as an easy way to communicate with customers (such as Zippy’s). Try scanning it the QR code above with your phone camera.
We were contacted by University of Hawaii Manoa Student Media to participate in an orientation event on August 23rd. Our Marketing committee generated a flyer giving UH Manoa students $5 off a $15 or more Thrift Shop purchase. UH printed a thousand flyers for distribution on campus. Discounts are available only to UH Manoa students from now to October 31st. A copy of the flyer is available behind the cashiers’ counter and online at our website.
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Fall Events and Good Summer Numbers |
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As COVID-19 numbers fluctuate, the Thrift Shop adjusts. We are back to limiting the number of customers and will make further adjustments as deemed necessary. It will probably be necessary for our door person to check the vaccination cards of our customers.
A $5 discount promotion is now running at the Thrift Shop for University of Hawaii at Manoa Students (see marketing article above).
We are now into September and a busy season is looming. We have Halloween ahead of us and then the Christmas Work Party.
As Halloween falls on Sunday, October 31, we scheduled the "Work Party" for the following Sunday, November 7.
We have "unofficially" been warned that some organizations such as CP and Big Brothers may discontinue their pick up service starting in October. Should this become a reality we will have some hard decisions to make in regards to accepting donations and getting rid of items we cannot sell.
Summer sales were good. The sales figures show:
- August - $22,931
- July - $25,472
- June - $23,942
Again the troops have responded and continue to come and work both upstairs and down. Thanks to all of you, we continue to sail on. Don't forget to put in your parking reimbursements.
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September 2021 Thrift Shop Calendar
REGULAR MEETING
Wed. Sept. 8 @ 10:30 AM online via ZOOM.
The Thrift Shop is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
You can still volunteer for the days marked with the red HELP!
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Your Monthly Service Hours
Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Despite all the challenges of COVID-19, our amazing members have donated more than 13,000 hours of service in the last 11 months! Please make every effort to send me your hours. Just email vandwfay@mac.com or phone me at (808) 282-0878.
Many thanks, Vicki Fay
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Amazon.com donates 0.5% of qualifying AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. Why not choose Assistance League of Hawaii? Here’s how it works:
2) Sign in with your Amazon.com credentials (Amazon Prime can be used too.)
3) Select Assistance League of Hawaii as the charitable organization.
4) Start shopping!
5) You can add a bookmark for smile.amazon.com to make it easier to return again to shop at AmazonSmile.
Once you have Assistance League of Hawaii registered with your Amazon Smile account, every time you shop at Amazon that .5% of your purchases help us! Mahalo.
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Telephone (808)946-1505 • Email: althrift281@gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Melvin Ah Ching assistanceleaguehimarketing@gmail.com
The next edition of the newsletter will be out September 2021.
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