A new school year has begun and our happy Assistance League of Hawaii member volunteers were out in full force at Walmart Ke'eaumoku on August 24 for our Operation School Bell event.

Summer has come and gone quickly and the new school year has already started! The three-day-a-week Thrift Shop schedule has been working out very well. Although a lot of members travel during the summer, the shop was always adequately staffed. We have also garnered premium donations. Answers to calls for "help" in packing and sorting donations contributed to a very successful summer. 

The Philanthropic Program Committee has been very busy planning for the upcoming year and are ready to help the children and individuals in our community! Our Philanthropic Chairman, Bonnie Trustin, has been busy updating, documenting and organizing the agreements with our various recipients. Bonnie and Gloria McGhee-Koel will explore and develop measurement tools to determine what impact our programs have on the lives of children and individuals. 

Operation School Bell ® scheduled their first In-Store event on August 24, 2019 at the Ke'eaumoku Walmart from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. If you were unable to participate last month, there will be more opportunities throughout the year. Literacy Services is beginning another year by staffing the Pu' uhale Library and augmenting the students' lesson plans. Operation Wildlife has a new and updated presentation with many thanks to Myrtle Ching-Rappa . We Care and Share continue to shine with Jane Winslow and Sandy Wells . Regarding Share, Sandy reports, "to date the Share Program has donated $3433 worth of goods to the community serving 2,918 individuals."

 

We were so fortunate last year to have Melvin Ah Ching transfer our website from the old platform to the national organization's WordPress server. We now have a stellar website and hope you all log in to see it. This year, we're planning to " Go Green " and have some of our documents uploaded to the Member's Section of the site. A hard copy will be mailed to a few members who do not have an email address or are having difficulty logging into the site. 

 

Helen Taufa'asau has begun "strategically planning" this year's in-home meeting questions and focusing on the future of our chapter. Mary Monohon has also planned for September's KWAK campaign with Foodland. See her Resource Development article for more details. 

 

During the summer we received formidable donations from several people.

I would like to acknowledge and thank one of our longtime member volunteers, Dot Mason for a very substantial Grant from the George Mason Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation. The $20,000 will go a long way in clothing at least 300 students. Dot  stated, "The George Mason Fund's favorite charity is Assistance League."  Dot, "What would we do without you!"

 

We were also fortunate to receive a second donation of $5,000 from  Doris Hillhouse of Tennessee. She and her friends will be visiting our member volunteer Peggy Monell in October. We have also received donations from Peggy's relatives, Josh and Summer Boyd during their recent visit. 

 

I'd also like to give a big "mahalo" to member Cathy Kissel for her donation as well as her continued membership in our Chapter!

 

On July 31, 2019, Assistance League of Hawaii Vice-President Geri Johnson and I attended the Hawaii Visitor's Industry Charity Walk's Mahalo Party and accepted a share of the amount collected. Mary Monohon and Gloria McGhee-Koel will be exploring ways we would be able to obtain a larger share for our organization next year.

Hope to see you all at our September 11th meeting at the Outrigger Canoe Club. We have an exciting year ahead with Myrtle's Hospitality Committee and Cathy Young 's plans for our Non-Business meetings. I know you'll want to be a part of our Chapter's goal of "Transforming Lives - Strengthening Our Communities".

Lastly, I would like to share this information to inspire you and others to volunteer at Assistance League of Hawaii!

" Research has shown that people who volunteer often live longer." 

Allen Klein

A Successful OSB Event for the New School Year

There were big smiles of happiness on the faces of 144 children in Kalihi, as they go back to school this month wearing new clothes and shoes as a result of our first Operation School Bell in-store event for the new school year.

 

Principals agree that receiving new clothes for school makes a positive impact on each student, and Assistance League of Hawaii is happy to help.

 

Elementary and middle school students purchased new school clothing and shoes at Walmart - Ke'eaumoku on Saturday, August 24, at a cost to Assistance League of Hawaii of $8,875.00. They were helped by 25 enthusiastic and faithful Assistance League of Hawaii member volunteers.

 

Thanks to each member volunteer for making this a truly successful event.

 

The next Operation School Bell shopping event is at the Target store in Kapolei on Saturday, September 14.

 

The next at Walmart Ke'eaumoku event will be on Saturday, September 28, 2019. I shall be contacting you. Please mark your calendar for both dates if possible.

The dates for upcoming months are listed below:

Oct. 19 - Walmart Ke'eaumoku

Nov. 16 - Target Kapolei

Jan. 25 - Target Kapolei

Feb. 8 - Target Kapolei

All Walmart events are 7:15-11:30 for volunteers. Contact Margie Van Swearingen at margievan2001@gmail.com for Walmart events.

All Target events are 8:15-12:30 for volunteers. Contact Nancy Sparacino at nsparacino_sms@yahoo.com for Target events.

Photos from our first event appear below and on our website.

Mary Kay Junk and Pat Dixon will be purchasing supplies for 225 boy and girl layettes. We Care will be holding a Lullaby Layette Packing on Friday, September 13 at Mary Kay Junk's home at 461 Iliwahi Loop, Kailua. Call Mary Kay at 254-2607 or Jane Winslow at 285-5603 if you would like to help with the packing. Refreshments will be provided. The Layettes will be distributed to Castle Birthing Center, Kap'olani Hospital and Kaiser Moanalua.

 

Eight-hundred Malama Bears have been ordered and will be delivered to the Thrift Shop in early October. The Bears will be packaged in plastic bags (20 Bears in a bag) and delivered to local hospital pediatric wards, St Francis Hospice, Legacy of Life, Fire Departments, Wahiawa Hospital and Shriners Hospital.

 

Further information will be given via October's newsletter for Pack-a-Bear Day in October. Your help will be greatly appreciated on Pack-a-Bear Day!

Service Hours by Karen McClelland

Your Diligence is Appreciated

As we start the new service year this is to ask you to be diligent in submitting your service hours. It is very important for National Assistance League use and to demonstrate the good work that we do. Please send your hours to me at the end of every month so I can enter them onto the spreadsheet. Only the total is necessary. For those of you who worked during the summer and forgot to give them to me, please include those. Let me know if you need assistance in submitting the hours. Thank you, Karen McClelland 808-741-7249

We are happy to welcome Jaye Devendra as a new member to Assistance League of Hawaii, who transferred from Assistance League Temecula Valley, where she served for 10 years.

Taylor Lui-Kwan , Linda Tsark 's grand-daughter, has joined us as a community volunteer. 

The Assistance League of Hawaii contact list is regularly updated. Contact me if you need a copy.

Newsletter Editor & Contact: Melvin Ah Ching

assistanceleaguehimarketing@gmail.com *  801-810-7135