Christy Logan had an epiphany nearly 10 years ago when acting as a substitute teacher at Kealakehe Elementary School turned into an idea, then a mission.
For nearly 10 years, Logan has provided Big Island Schools a fun way for educators to get needed school supplies without dipping into their own finances…a shopping spree. On Tuesday, teachers from Konawaena, Naalehu and Holualoa Elementary Schools were able to participate in the spree at Walmart.
“I started it when I was a first grade substitute teacher,” she recounted. “Because I’m in the construction world I have access to leftover rolls of drawings paper that are pretty big. I told my friend whose class I was subbing that I wanted to use them to paint.”
Her friend said she would leave out the students’ paint sets for her.
“Next thing I know all the first graders are fighting over paint. I’m like, what’s going on? I came to find out they were all fighting over the sets that had the most paint. So next I was like ‘where are your brushes?” she said.
The keiki said they didn’t have brushes, but rather used Q-tips when they painted.
“I thought no, no, no this is ridiculous. It dawned on me it was about money,” Logan said.
That afternoon she went to a big box store to price paint sets. The watercolor sets were about $2.50 each which she thought was reasonable.
“But then I thought, wait a minute, there are 30 kids to a class, and at the time Kealakehe had nine first grade classrooms, so that was almost $1,000 just in paint for a single grade level.” She knew she had to do something.
That night Logan went online and located a foundation out of San Francisco that had a grant program for up to $2,000.
“I started thinking it would be fun if teachers just could come in and get what they wanted and didn’t have to use their own money,” she said of the idea.
She received $2,000 from the non-profit and went to then Kealakehe Elementary School Principal Nancy Matsukawa with the idea of a shopping spree for first grade teachers for art supplies. Matsukawa loved the idea, but hoped it could be for all grade levels.
“I had to find more money,” Logan remembered.
“I got in touch with Rotary Club of Kona but they only had grants for $1,000, so i did the paperwork, scratched out $1,000 and wrote in $2,000. I told them what I wanted to do and they called me and said ‘We love you, here’s $2,000,” she mused.
Logan made up the rules for a shopping spree for all grades at the school. There were six teams with each team representing a grade level.
“We spent about $4,000 that first year. Now we are up to six schools a year with two events, one in Kona and one in Hilo and we spend roughly $15,000 a year,” she explained.
This year, however Logan said over $5,000 is coming out of her own business pocket.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do for next year because I haven’t had time to fundraise. The Roberts Foundation has been absolutely wonderful giving us $5,000 a year, she said. “It’s been a fun ride, but I would like to find an annual supporter that can support it full time.”
She is using SKEA (Society for Kona’s Education and Art) for the fiscal umbrella as a non-profit, so tax deductible donations could be made, with notation to be used for the shopping spree.
“Our next event is Sunday at the Hilo Walmart,” Logan announced.
Three East side elementary schools will be participating.
“We have a rotation. There are 26 elementary schools on the island and we select schools to participate for two years to spree in the event,” she explained.
Each school receives anywhere between $600 and $1,000 to spend the day of the spree.
The amount to spend is a random generated number, so nobody knows what it is beforehand. There are prizes of $750, $500 and $250 for additional supplies for the winning teams.
There are two teachers per team and two teams per school.
“We announce at the beginning of the spree how much money they have to spend and the team that comes closest to that number without going over is considered the winning team and the winning school they represent. There’s no running, no calculators and a “referee” accompanies each team to make sure they follow the rules. The two teachers from the winning team also get $200 cash. The winning school also gets a trophy,” Logan said.
Holualoa Elementary School was the winner of Tuesday’s spree.
“I couldn’t stop smiling while serving as a volunteer referee, knowing how much the items in the wagons will mean to the students, teachers and staff at these three public elementary schools,” said Carolyn Lucas-Zenk, mother of a Holualoa incoming first-grade student. “I’m a firm believer that when something good is happening in our community, we should shout it out loud and share everywhere, with hopes of more ripples happening.”