LIHUE — For families with school-aged children, the cost of equipping students for school can add up quickly. Saturday, they got help from a free school supplies giveaway at Kukui Grove Center.
“While each of the schools has their own list of needed supplies, we worked to come up with a more universal offerings,” said Melissa McFerrin-Warrack, the special events coordinator at Kukui Grove Center. “This should get students ready for school, thanks to the generosity of many community sponsors.”
Families were in line as early as 7:30 a.m. for the 9 a.m. registration for the event, for which more than 1,750 bags were packed Wednesday by nearly a hundred volunteers. The crowd grew throughout the morning as beneficiary families worked through the assortment of activity stations and exhibits offering keiki and youth resources and a health fair. Another excitement-generating activity was the opening of a new shop — Pau Hana T’s, located by Jamba Juice.
“Melissa suggested we take advantage of the event to host our opening day,” said Carmela Pablo of Pau Hana T’s. “A lot of the shoppers pre-ordered their school uniforms and today was their pickup day, coinciding with the free school supplies giveaway. This new store at Kukui Grove will serve as a point of pickup and retail store. We (husband Royden and herself) still have the shop in Waimea that we started in 2007 and where all of the screening takes place.”
William Arakaki, the Department of Education Kauai Complex Area superintendent, was impressed with the support demonstrated by the event sponsors, including all of Kauai’s credit unions, the Kauai Economic Development Board, Aloha Iki program, Wilcox Health, and more.
“We’re still recovering from the rains and floods from earlier this year,” Arakaki said. “And now, the show of support for our teachers, our schools and the students by these many community sponsors is incredible.”
Arakaki helped guide the line of parents to open registration slots before rolling up his sleeves with David Sosner, the Kukui Grove general manager, Kauai County Council members and other community volunteers in distributing the bags of school supplies.
“It takes a village to care for a child,” Sosner said. “This says it all as hundreds of volunteers spent countless hours to make this happen. We are proud to be a part of this because Kukui Grove is not just a shopping center, it’s a community center where it’s all about families and the community. We just couldn’t think of a better way to help all the families get ready for school.”
Judy Cano, the Parent Community Networking Coordinator for the Department of Education, estimates that about $10,000 was spent to fill all the bags.
“This is about the same crowd as last year,” she said. “But the good thing is there are a lot of people from the Westside here this morning. This is good because it shows there is balance among those getting the supplies.”
A Kauai Police Activities League flag football team showed up to claim their bags following their morning matches, and a parent whose child was visiting grandparents on the Mainland was accommodated with a bag of supplies.
“This is really good,” said Nancy Kanna, the interim executive director from the Kauai Economic Development Board. “It’s nice to see all of this excitement. It makes this feel like the malls on the Mainland. I wish we could do this every day.”
Sosner said Kukui Grove Center is working to develop more features, including a playground coming to the Exhibition Area in the fall. Some recent additions include Bandwagon, which opened its doors Friday night, and Aloha Dance Studio, which offers after-school programs.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
