Catholic Charities returns to roots of giving

HANAMA‘ULU — Lynnette Medrano-Stine is jumping between the raindrops, but never forgot where everything started, yesterday.

With school scheduled to let out for the winter break Friday, Medrano-Stine of Catholic Charities Hawai‘i was joined by Deacon Bill Farias of the Immaculate Conception Church, Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho and Wally Rezentes Jr. as the delegation arrived with 50 gift bags earmarked for King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School students.

“This year’s gifts were contributed by the parishoners from the Immaculate Conception Church,” Medrano-Stine said. “They even did a lot of the wrapping.”

The stop at the King Kaumuali‘i was the third and final stop for Medrano-Stine before the holidays set in.

“This is where everything started,” she said. “Last year, we brought presents for 30 students and 20 homeless families.”

This year, the holiday distribution has been expanded drastically to include 20 students from Koloa School, a quantity of gifts and presents for Arc of Kaua‘i clients and the King Kaumuali‘i students, Medrano-Stine said.

In a time when the economic uncertainty threatens the holidays for a lot of people, Medrano-Stine said she is grateful and appreciative for the people of Kaua‘i who always find it in their hearts the feeling that there are others who need things more than they do, and are willing to give generously.

The student recipients were selected by the staff of the King Kaumuali‘i School and the students will start receiving calls to pick up their gifts starting this afternoon with the final gifts leaving the campus with the students when school lets out Friday.

In the meantime, Medrano-Stine said, “There’re still families out on the beaches that need to get their gifts so it’s time to get running between the raindrops, again.”