LIHUE — Jenise Onishi said this has been a very hard year for her family.
But that will change, she said.
Tuesday afternoon she was one of three mothers selected to receive gift cards from Aaliyah Nero, a student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.
“At least my kids can have a good Christmas,” Onishi said. “This has been an especially hard year for us. I’m waiting for 2020 so things will get better.”
Nero selected Onishi, Kelly Bactad and Briana Sasaki to be the recipients of gift cards from Ross Dress for Less and Safeway to help their families at Christmas.
“These ladies were selected through the Love the Journey program, which helps young adults recover from drug and alcohol problems,” Nero said. “This is the fifth year I’m distributing the gift cards that people have donated.”
“I’m very grateful for the help to support my two children to be able to have a better Christmas,” Bactad said.
Nero started out with a goal of raising $1,000 in gift cards.
She said this year, she is distributing nine gift cards to the mothers.
“We collected more than $300 in cards, and the remaining six gift cards will be turned over to the YWCA of Kauai women’s shelter,” she said.
Nero, who experienced life in a shelter, started her nonprofit foundation when she was 9 years old. At 14, she is grateful to the community for its support.
She also expresses her appreciation to the board members, including Jasmine Sadamitsu, Morgan Callejo, Kathy Koerte, Jay Ishii and ohana and Mitch Tam.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
