NAWILIWILI — A lot of cargo comes through via Young Brothers at Nawiliwili Port. On Tuesday, the company delivered a grant check for a Helping Hands Hawai‘i program to Department of Education and Oceanic Time Warner Cable representatives. Bill Arakaki
NAWILIWILI — A lot of cargo comes through via Young Brothers at Nawiliwili Port. On Tuesday, the company delivered a grant check for a Helping Hands Hawai‘i program to Department of Education and Oceanic Time Warner Cable representatives.
Bill Arakaki from the department and Luciana Vasques, customer service manager for Oceanic Time Warner, accepted $1,500 from the Young Brothers Community Advisory Board for this year’s Ready to Learn program.
According to a press release from Helping Hands Hawai‘i, Ready to Learn provides needy students from kindergarten through high school with new pencils, pens, notebooks and other classroom supplies to encourage school readiness.
“We couldn’t pass this over,” Millie Wellington, a retired educator who sits on the Young Brothers board, said.
Ready To Learn is based on the concept that children who do not have basic school supplies are at a disadvantage at the beginning of the school year. To provide such supplies, Helping Hands Hawai‘i works with government agencies, social service agencies, community organizations, nonprofits and religious groups.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye created the program in 1999 based on childhood experiences in school.
Ready To Learn has since grown from collecting donated school supplies from a central collection point to accepting monetary contributions with a volunteer-coordinated effort.
Helping Hands Hawai‘i has coordinated the full program effort since 2005.
Incorporated in 1974, Helping Hands Hawai‘i has a mission to connect individuals, families and organizations with available human and material resources to provide a vital lifeline for the community.
