By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Eighth-graders from Waipahu Intermediate volunteered
for three hours yesterday at Sen. Dan Inouye's campaign
headquarters to bag school supplies for needy children.

---

Schoolkids still
in need of supplies

Some can't face class if
they lack the basics,
and don't come

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

New blue jeans, squeaky new Pochaco bags with matching coin purse and pencil case, and sneakers yet to be baptized.

Back-to-school sales are advertising supplies from the latest in backpacks to the coolest portfolio designs. But while going back to school is an exciting time for many Hawaii youngsters, it's also a time some families dread.

While many children can't wait to dig into their fresh set of 24-count crayons or don their newest outfits, others will be digging out last year's folders and their elder siblings' hand-me-downs.

The Community Clearing House this year has received referrals for more than 35,000 needy families -- up from over 13,900 last year -- and that number is continuing to grow, said director Mariellen Byrnes-Jones.

"It's a sign of the times. If people can't afford 25 to 30 bucks to supply each child, it means everything else is lacking."

While collection drives this year have been successful, the Clearing House hasn't come close to covering the increase in needy children, she said.

For school supplies alone, requests so far have reached 18,000 statewide, with 15,000 from Oahu, said Kalowena Komeiji, chairwoman of U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye's Ready to Learn project. The number of children expected to be served by the end of the campaign is 20,000.

Some youngsters are ashamed to show up on the first day because they don't even have basics like pencils and paper, said Geri Martin, a sixth-grade Makaha Elementary teacher.

"It causes them to be unsure of where they belong and whether they're a part of the class or not," Martin said.

Martin, like most teachers, will dip into their private stashes to lend students a pencil here, a piece of folder paper there. "Kids need to know, bottom line, that they are what's important. Once they believe that, they'll give you their all."

With summers getting shorter because many schools are adopting modified year-round schedules, it means less time for parents to save for supplies. Households with between four and six children in school at any given year are hit the hardest.

While her family recycles, Maili parent Kuulei Hedin says July was "money crunch" time to get her three children equipped for school. Schools ask for "almost everything," except toilet paper, she said. "It can get quite costly."

Apologetic parents sometimes stop by to tell Nanaikapono Elementary teacher Shari Ishii that "the check's in the mail" and their children will soon be coming to school with the needed supplies.

But often the supplies never materialize, Ishii said.

This year as in past years, the Community Clearing House, Waikiki Health Center, retail stores, and TV and radio stations have sponsored drives for school supplies or cash donations that will go to needy families.

Fox 2's Lokahi program collected school clothes and shoes for needy children. KITV's School Tools program partnered with Kahala Mall merchants to raise $3,000 cash and collect school supplies at a recent drive.

And at the annual Waikiki Health Center picnic on Aug. 1, between 260 to 280 homeless or needy children across Oahu and their families were treated to a lunch and received school-supply kits donated by churches, local retailers and other organizations.

The Trinity Mission Church at Pearl Harbor, for example, donated 124 backpacks stuffed with complete school-supply kits, said Mary Spadaro, director of development at the Waikiki Health Center. The backpacks contained most everything on a child's school-supply list, except for paper towels, tissue or sponges.

Kmart donated over $1,000 worth of school supplies and $1,000 cash for the purchase of more, said Iwilei store manager Ryan Budisalich.

Inouye's Ready to Learn program this year provided the Community Clearing House with manpower and resources to pack donated school supplies and deliver them to needy recipients.

So far, 2,000 sets of supplies were sent to Maui on Friday and 1,500 sets to Kona on Monday, Komeiji said.

A minimum of 2,000 requests for school supplies are expected from Kauai. Requests from Molokai and Lanai are also anticipated. Families are identified and referred by school counselors, principals and social service agencies.

Many more families on Oahu are awaiting supplies, but donations for Oahu children are almost depleted, said Komeiji.

To meet the need on Oahu, Komeiji says they need:

818 Black Marble composition books;
4,270 packs of folder paper;
60,500 No. 2 pencils;
7,000 black or blue ballpoint pens;
16,000 portfolios;
15,000 block erasers;
15,000 12-inch rulers;
3,000 spiral notebooks;
and 9,000 color marker sets.

Volunteers at Inouye's Kapiolani headquarters have been frantically sorting and preparing supplies for delivery due to some reports that families are not sending their kids to school because they haven't received their supplies, Komeiji said.

Spadaro of the Waikiki Health Center said, "The last thing children need or want is to be singled out by peers as homeless or different from other children."

How you can help Back-to-school donations can be dropped off at U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye's campaign headquarters at 600 Kapiolani Blvd. or at First Hawaiian Bank branches. Call the Back-to-School hot line at 541-9662 for other drop-off sites. Aug. 15: McCully Shopping Center's Way Cool for School promotion. Cash donations and school supplies to benefit the Community Clearing House will be collected. Aug. 23: Bishop Museum from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission to the public with donation of school supplies. Waikiki Health Center also welcomes cash donations to help needy families get physical exams and immunizations. Donations are tax-deductible. Send checks to 277 Ohua Ave., Honolulu 96815, Attn: Back-to-School.