CHS: Where Schools Turn For Supplies
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A recent meeting of Realtors at Mid-Pacific
Country Club also netted 750 composition
books for area students via Community Helping
Schools. Donors are (front) Cecilia Christenson
and Kathie Wells; (back, from left) Mark Pillori,
Stewart Wade, Holly Turi, Pat and Don Baxter,
Lynn Tilton, Dale Bordner and Sharon Trehern.
Not pictured are Bob Ogorchock, Donna Maier,
Joyce Cramer, Thia West, Sara VanDerWeff, Pam
McIntyre, Connie Rodriques, Liz Moore, Terry
Ewart and others in Realtors Networking on
Oahu. Photo from Kathie Wells.
Soon after schools opened this summer, there came a scurrying of delivery trucks, boxes and smiling people bearing gifts to nearly two dozen Windward campuses.
Through the grass-roots Community Helping Schools, they brought everything from paper to furniture, pencils to toys, and books to binders.
Founded in 2000 by an energetic Kailua Realtor and school mom, the non-profit agency has enjoyed steady support from residents and businesses, all of whom give freely to the cause of supplying teachers, students and classrooms with whatever they need.
CHS matches what’s needed with who needs it, and then gets it there. But what stands out about this effort is its “mahalo.”
“After we receive a donation from a community member, a letter is sent to them from CHS and the school,“explained founder and director Kathie Wells. “But we also ask the teacher that requested the donation to have a student write a thank-you letter to the donor. These letters from the students have warmed the heart of the donors and helped to create a bond between the community and the schools.”
The teachers’ own comments are also telling, such as one at Kailua Intermediate who received a windfall of items on her wish list. Surprised and delighted, she wrote to Wells: “The donations from CHS have also given me a real boost in feeling valued and supported by the parents and community whose children I teach.”
The summer of 2006 has been a generous one for schools,with the following groups leading the way in giving: Hope Chapel Kaneohe (three truckloads of supplies), Windward and islandwide Realtors (750 composition books and supplies), Covance Research (binders and four truckloads of office equipment and furniture),proceeds from a Kailua garage sale (scissors, crayons, 120 bottles of glue, etc.), Carl Anderson of AMPACO (shelves,chairs,stationery),Shriners Hospital (typewriter, toys, backpacks).
Busy writing their thank-you notes are students at Castle, Kahuku and Kailua high; King and Kailua Intermediate; Central Middle School and Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate School; Enchanted Lake, Kailua, Kahuku, Kapunahala, Laie, Lanikai, Mokapu, Blanche Pope, Ben Parker, Kaaawa, Kaneohe, Kaelepulu, Hauula, Keolu and Maunawili elementary schools.
Dozens of residents donate to CHS after reading of the need in its weekly Windward ad in MidWeek (see page 4). Others happen to cross Wells’ path in her personal or professional life.Some offer trucks and free delivery, paint, construction skills, financial service or word-of-mouth publicity. Join the fun at 225-2621.
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