Community Policing had donated backpacks, but nothing to fill them. La‘i‘opua 2020 had supplies for keiki in their summer program, but nothing to put them in.
A chance encounter brought the two together, and on Friday, 160 students received the new backpacks on their last day of the summer session.
“I was talking to my neighbor Denise McGuckin about receiving 500 backpacks from Ironman,” recalled Hawaii Police Department Officer Dwayne Sluss. “We didn’t really know what we were going to do with them.”
A few days later, La‘i‘opua 2020 Executive Director Kawehi Inaba ran into McGuckin in Costco.
“We started talking and she told me about the backpacks,” said Inaba.
In two days time, Sluss and Inaba coordinated the giveaway for the K-6 grade students participating in the program, stuffing the backpacks with books, educational materials and supplies provided by La‘i‘opua plus hand sanitizers donated by Ka‘analike.
“It just came together like peanut butter and jelly,” laughed Sluss.
The elementary school students from Kealakehe and Konawaena participated in the six week summer-enrichment program held at their respective schools, plus field trips to culturally significant sites.
“We wanted both schools to come together to have a sense of ohana,” said Inaba. “They came here for a culinary presentation, learned plant propagation, lei making and so much more. We wanted to teach them a sense of place in Kona.”
Students would learn about a special place, such as Pu‘uhonua o Honaunau in the classroom, then come together to explore the area.
“It really gave them a sense of place,” she said.
She said the program integrates the English and Hawaiian aspects of the curriculum, bringing teachers and kids together from different geographical areas.
“The Hawaiian cultural team merged with the English literacy team. It was very special,” said Inaba. “We got to show them it doesn’t matter where you are from, North Kona or South Kona. We are all one ohana. Our mission is to build a safe place and bind people together.”
Keiki were excited to receive their backpacks from the community policing officers, with an abundance of smiles and fist bumps.
Sluss said they will be distributing the remainder of the donated backpacks to other schools and HOPE Services.
Public school students in Hawaii head back to the classroom on Aug. 1.