Making a Difference – Assistance League – Hawaii

Our Volunteers have fun!

linda.mccolgan@hotmail.com — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 21:58:23 +0000

Our Resource committee shared this performance during our monthly business meeting and luncheon. They shared a creative way to highlight Waikiki Health Youth Outreach. Our upcoming drive to collect change in the Thrift Shop will benefit Youth Outreach!

To view the video click this link : https://youtu.be/AJ1XuOscDpQ?si=ZPRYkiFVd56Dk5P_

Operation Wildlife Featured on Hawaii News Now

technology archive — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 08:29:46 +0000

With the presentation to 45 students at Ala Wai Elementary School on March 6, 2023, the Operation Wildlife (OWL) Team finished all the school sessions for this school year.

We shared our OWL presentation at 26 schools, including 6 in Hilo and 5 on Maui, with a total of 1,787 people, including students, teachers and administrators. Sixteen OWL volunteers went out to the schools, and we even had a few non-member volunteers observing at some schools. A couple of our volunteers played critical roles of Neighbor Island advisor and biofact triage specialist!

The best critique comes from teachers. Here are some from this year’s evaluations:

“The students had an amazing experience. A lot of them said that they never would have thought that they would be able to see or touch such beautiful animals in their young lives. One student said it was the best moment he ever had at a school. A lot of my students were inspired to do something and create change because of this presentation. Thank you for creating such a wonderful program for students”.

“Thank you for all that you do. A lot of my kids felt the importance of taking actions to help our native species. It is an experience they will never forget.”

“All of the provided teaching material, video presentation, and viewing of biofacts were above and beyond our expectations. The students loved it!”

The student with the sea turtle, in the photo above, said he had a staring contest with the turtle and lost! Comments like these make it all worthwhile!

We also made the news on Maui and had an interview with Jim Mendoza of Hawaii News Now, thanks to our Public Relations committee led by Linda McColgan.

Our Operation Wildlife team was on Maui this week

linda.mccolgan@hotmail.com — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:11:09 +0000

And…. Maui News came to one of the schools with them!

Click the link to read the article and view the pictures:.A walk on the wild side | News, Sports, Jobs – Maui News

11,000 T-Shirts Donated to Hawaii’s School Children

technology archive — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 17:00:06 +0000

As of the end of January 2023, Operation School Bell® has provided 11,000 T-shirts to our schools and students, 51% of qualified schools have been served. We have completed calls to the rest of the 56 schools with reminders to order as soon as possible. The schools are really excited that we’re doing this again this year.

Operation School Bell is Assistance League’s signature program. We have been serving Hawaii Keiki for almost 52 years!

Interested in helping kids in Hawaii? We offer many ways to do this with clothes, tutoring and running an elementary school library! Contact us to learn more:

Assistance League of Hawaii | Operation School Bell

Assistance League of Hawaii member volunteers prepare “Kokua Boxes” to help our students at qualified schools.

Member Volunteers deliver Kokua box to Nanakuli High & Intermediate School

Operation Wildlife coming to Maui soon!

linda.mccolgan@hotmail.com — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:49:22 +0000

Operation Wildlife is an educational program that travels to Neighbor Island and Oahu schools to teach fourth grade students about animal endangerment and preservation. (Hawaii has more endangered species than any other state.) Assistance League of Hawaii has collected over 100 exotic biofacts (tiger skin, elephant tooth, piranha, and much more) for students to touch, feel and examine.

Member volunteers travel to Maui, Hawaii, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai, carrying suitcases filled with biofacts and PowePpoint video equipment. They present a memorable endangered species program for students, of which many have not been to a zoo.

This traveling program enhances the fourth grade endangered species and Earth’s ecosystems in their science curriculum at schools on all major Hawaiian Islands. Students handle a fantastic array of animal skins, skulls, furs and feathers. They gain understanding for the need to care for and conserve natural resources.

Operation School Bell: Making a Difference

technology archive — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 20:57:22 +0000

Operation School Bell® member volunteers delivered Kokua Boxes and refills to a number of public schools with students in need around Hawaii. More deliveries will be or have been made to Oahu schools upon reopening after the Holiday Break. There are requests for refills from Molokai (Kaunakakai Elementary) for larger shorts and the Big Island (Pahoa Elementary) for a complete reorder with more slippers!

Pu’uhale Library, as part of Operation School Bell’s Literacy Program, continues to provide library services to many students. Our volunteers, including Carol Hasegawa, Hazel Sumile, Linda Andersen, Joan Helbling, Gloria McGehee-Koel, Jaye Devendra, and Helen Taufa’asau, all work together to conduct library services for 260 students in Grades K-5, with weekly class visits on Tuesdays (8 classes) and Thursdays (6 classes). There are an average of 15-25 students in each class, many of whom are second language learners.

The typical day begins with the first class visit at 9 a.m. and ends with the last class visit at 1 p.m. (There is a lunch break.) Some volunteers read books, do storytelling and give book talks. Other volunteers check books in and out of the library, shelve books and process new and cancelled books. The students enjoy listening to stories and often request to borrow the specific titles the readers have introduced. Teachers also request specific types of materials for their class use.

Books keep us busy. It is rewarding to see the students’ excitement and reactions to new information. We are always looking for new member volunteers!

This post was compiled from an entry made in our January 2023 member newsletter.

Honolulu Office of Merrill Lynch Donates Items for Operation School Bell

technology archive — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 03:00:51 +0000

Chinli Sun, Karen and Rick Handy from the Honolulu office of Merrill Lynch delivered 2 boxes of children’s underwear and 3 boxes of children’s slippers to our Assistance League of Hawaii Thrift Shop on Wednesday, August 10, 2022.

Approximately 50 employees from the Honolulu office of Merrill Lynch take part in quarterly community outreach projects, and they decided the Operation School Bell’s Kokua Clothing Boxes were worthy of their efforts.

Chinli, Karen and Rick were given a tour of our facility and photos were taken of the group with Operation School Bell Chair Laurelyn Berger, Vice President and Kokua Clothing Box Coordinator Mary Monohon, Finance Chair Margie Van Swearingen, and President Nancy Sparacino.

Making a Difference: MIDWEEK Article Features Assistance League of Hawaii President

technology archive — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 16:21:01 +0000

Assistance League of Hawaii president Mary Monohon talks about the philanthropic programs that we do to help Hawaii’s children and families. Read the article at the MIDWEEK website or look for a printed copy (April 6, 2022 edition) in your mailbox.

Making A Difference 2021: Action Week OWL Video

technology archive — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 01:37:19 +0000

One of the first things we did in 2021 was to create an online presentation for Operation Wildlife. Under the auspices of 2020-2021 Assistance League of Hawaii Marketing Chair Gerri Migita, she assembled a talented team of members and community volunteers to come up with an all new video presentation which was presented for the first time, entirely online via our website and YouTube.

The revised slide presentation was ready for 2021’s Action Week for February. In an article appearing in the March membership newsletter, Gerri wrote:

“This year due to COVID-19 restrictions, Assistance League of Hawaii’s Marketing Team created and produced an educational slide show presentation for Action Week.

The slide show helped distance learning students as well as those doing face-to-face, in-class instruction to equally learn what they can do to help Hawaii’s environment. The presentation focused on sustaining Hawaii’s environment to save the endangered endemic animals and plants from going extinct.

Letters were sent to schools with agreements with Assistance League of Hawaii around the State inviting them to connect to our website for the slide presentation “Sustaining Hawaii’s Environment for Your Future”. We also selected a book, “What a Waste” to give to schools that participated and returned surveys to us. There are also supporting worksheets and evaluations for teachers to use in their classes.

The video was uploaded onto YouTube and embedded to a specially created Assistance League Hawaii webpage. It was made available for viewing starting February 15. It will be available for public viewing through the end of the school year.”

The video appears at the bottom of this post.

For 2022, the Operation Wildlife Committee is putting together a new slideshow which will be shared with students around Oahu.