The Hualālai ‘Ohana Foundation has been busy over the summer. We continue to adapt our programs to serve our Hualālai workforce ‘ohana. How can we help more people? What can we help with? What does our community need? How can we be responsive and supportive partners and help more people? It’s been a time of reflection, transformation, and evolution. Here are a few changes that have taken place over the first half of the year:
Hualālai Summer Program for Keiki
As part of our ongoing efforts to meet the gap for busy moms and dads of Hualālai’s workforce ‘ohana, the Hualālai ‘Ohana Foundation piloted a two-week summer microschool program at Kalaemano Interpretive Center this month. Keiki learned about the different types of coral found in Hawai’i’s waters, the different types of limu (seaweed) and why they are important to ocean health. Four Seasons generously donated all of the snacks and lunches for the keiki. Each child went home with a new backpack, a hydroflask, a portable beach mat, a lot of fun take-home art projects and extra face masks. The program made it easy for working families to have a place for their children to learn, discover, play and engage in place-based education grounded in Hawaiian culture, language, art and STEM.
Scholarship Update
HOF processed 62 Preschool – K-12 Scholarships earlier this month and 55 college scholarships. This is more than we’ve ever done before and we’re excited to see so many applications coming through our doors. We’ve mobilized new systems and processes to simplify and streamline how we serve our Hualālai ‘Ohana and we’re excited to share more of these new developments with you in the months ahead.
We’re seeing a significant increase in requests for scholarships this year and many of them are coming from either first-generation college students or continuing students who are now pursuing graduate degrees. This is extremely exciting for us because it means the ‘ohana is growing and educational dreams are coming true! We’ve seen housekeepers and landscapers bring their kids (home for the summer) to our office to meet our team and say thank you. They are so proud, especially since many of them started out receiving children’s books in the mail from our child literacy programs as toddlers, and now they are college graduates. For the first time in our nearly 20-year history, we have FIVE graduate school scholarship awards this year, and we’re thrilled! Thank you for making it all possible for Hualālai’s workforce ‘ohana!
To get involved or learn more about some of the ways HOF is growing, or if you have some ideas on how we might do more to help more, please call 325-8177 or email nico@HualalaiOhanaFoundation.org
|
|
Leave a Reply