Over 100 individually selected and wrapped gifts were donated by Island Pacific Academy families for children living at a local homeless shelter as part of the annual Giving Tree project.
Representatives from the Onemalu Transitional Shelter met the Grade 5 Leadership Council students to thank them for their Giving Tree project which brought in over 100 gifts for children currently living there.
During December IPA families were invited to pick a child’s name tag (first name and age) from the tree and purchase a gift. “We have children as young as six months and as old as 18 currently living at our shelter,” says Luana Lester Nelson, manager of the Onemalu Transitional Shelter in Kalaeloa. “On average we provide service to about 55 families each year.”
Elementary Vice Principal, Linda Hang, carries Giving Tree gifts out to waiting cars along with grade 5 students.
The Giving Tree project is organized by the Grade 5 Leadership Council who also oversee the gift-wrapping of all of the presents. The final day of the project at IPA is always heart-warming. Onemalu Shelter representatives bring several cars to load up the presents and take them back to the families there.
Grade 5 students got to feel a little like Santa helping to fill cars with presents from the Giving Tree.
With the eager leadership council students helping it still took a few trips to load all the presents into three waiting cars. “This makes such a difference to these families,” said Nelson. “It takes away the worry from some of the parents living at the shelter that they may not be able to give a present to their child during the holidays. We are so grateful to IPA’s families for reaching out to others in the community in this way year after year.”
Students place Giving Tree gifts into a car that will take the presents to the families living at the shelter.
The Onemalu Transitional Shelter is one of two shelters operated by Holomua Na ‘Ohana (Families Moving Forward). The primary focus of the Holomua Na ‘Ohana program is to offer housing to un-sheltered families with minor aged children; the family’s parents are willing to work in a program designed to assist them in removing barriers to employment and permanent housing. The other transitional shelter is called Weinberg Village Waimanalo. (source: http://holomuanaohana.org/)
