PUHI — The Key Club students from Kaua‘i High School were busy making Thanksgiving crafts, but the residents of the Regency at Puakea were engrossed in packing Christmas boxes, Wednesday.
Aram Keuilian, director of marketing at the Regency at Puakea, said this is the first year residents are participating in Operation Christmas Child and this week, the third week of November, is national collection week throughout the country.
“This is my second year I’ve worked with the Operation Christmas Child, but it’s the first time for the Regency residents,” Keuilian said. “Basically, Operation Christmas Child is a Christian organization who provides specially-marked shoe boxes to fill with toys and hygiene items which will be sent all over the world to children who do not get to experience ‘receiving’ during Christmas.”
Keuilian said that this year, all of the Hawai‘i Operation Christmas Child boxes will be sent to children in Nepal.
Coordinating with Kaye Cummings, the Regency activities director, the residents were treated to a shopping spree at Kmart, where they could select gifts and items to fill their boxes for the Christmas Child.
“We normally have shopping every week,” Keuilian said. “But Kaye said they selected Kmart based on the residents’ shopping experience and the help they could receive while shopping for their ‘adopted’ children.”
Once the holiday items were purchased, Keuilian and his wife were doing the shopping for those residents who wanted to participate but did not want to experience shopping, and the residents got help from the Regency staff in getting the boxes ready to be shipped.
“The residents wanted to add a personal note with the boxes they’re packing and that makes it even more special,” Keuilian said.
He added that Kmart, on learning of the residents’ intention, came forward to help, not only with the shoppers, but Jarrett Chytka, the store manager, provided more than 100 clothing items for boys and girls as well as other items to help fill the boxes.
“This helps tremendously,” Keuilian said. “That means with the money we saved from Kmart’s contributions, we have enough left to pay for the shipping.”
He said during last year’s Operation Christmas Child, there were about 6,000 boxes collected.
This year, there are four churches on Kaua‘i participating, including the Calvary Chapel in Lihu‘e which has no official office space, leading Keuilian to offer the Regency at Puakea as a collection site.
Another Lihu‘e church, the Lutheran Church on German Hill, also touts itself as a collection site. Keuilian said the Calvary Chapel North Shore is the final Operation Christmas Child site for Kaua‘i.
Throughout the activity of packing, writing out notes and getting everything ready, the Key Club students worked with volunteer children, who flitted between moving stock and creating Thanksgiving crafts to add to the bevy of paper turkeys lining the piano in the Regency activity center.
“All told, the residents packed 14 boxes and, as of Wednesday afternoon, the Calvary Chapel Lihu‘e and the Regency at Puakea have collected 125 Operation Christmas Child boxes,” Keuilian said.
For more information, call Aram Keuilian at 246-4449.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
