LIHUE — It’s not hard to find signs that the holiday season has begun. Stores are rolling out big sales. Homes, offices and classrooms are decorated with winter-themed displays. And families are finalizing their plans for the big day, whether
LIHUE — It’s not hard to find signs that the holiday season has begun.
Stores are rolling out big sales. Homes, offices and classrooms are decorated with winter-themed displays. And families are finalizing their plans for the big day, whether it is Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.
But for some Kauai families, sharing that holiday cheer with their keiki is not always easy.
That’s where Child and Family Service’s Holiday Giving Project steps in.
Each year, Child and Family Service Executive Director Novelyn Hinazumi said staff members at the Lihue-based nonprofit identify the organization’s neediest families, who struggle to make ends meet.
Many of those children, Child and Family Service staff member Christy Langstaff said, live in single parent homes and sometimes have multiple siblings.
“I think this is really important, because children are around all of their friends who are talking about Christmas — if they don’t get anything, then it’s very sad for a child,” Hinazumi said. “I think it’s really important for their self-esteem and just feeling like they’re worth something.”
In all, more than half of the 225 tags made by Child and Family Service staff detailing the need for each child, who is given an pseudonym and a short story about their family, have been picked up and returned with gifts so far this year.
And more tags, Hinazumi said, are scheduled to be released on Monday.
Organizations participating in this year’s Holiday Giving Project include Child and Family Service Guild volunteers and employees from the Grand Hyatt Kauai, Kauai Board of Realtors, Rotary Club of Kapaa, and state Department of Health.
Langstaff, who delivers the presents dropped off at the Child and Family Service office in Lihue and wrapped by members of the Child and Family Service Guild, said the true gift is seeing a child’s expression when they receive a present.
“For the kids, it’s Christmas and what kid doesn’t like presents, right?” Langstaff said. “It’s fun to be able to play Santa and bring them a bunch of stuff to see their eyes light up. We usually deliver before Christmas, so they don’t necessarily open their presents in front of us, but just to have something to open is exciting.”
It is a gift that longtime Child and Family Service employee Connie Baniaga tries to give to her clients each year.
When she was growing up, Baniaga said her father earned only $1 a day, so her family wasn’t able to celebrate birthdays or even Christmas.
“Children look forward to Christmas — there are families who don’t have birthdays sometimes because their parents cannot give, so Christmas is always a thing for them,” Baniaga said. “For those children who are receiving a gift for the first time, it brightens up everything for them. Even if the parents cannot give and someone else can, they’re so happy about it.”
But the presents, she explained, are important for another reason — they demonstrate the reason for the season.
“It’s a time for sharing and that kind of thing and that’s what a child should learn so they can understand that, but a lot of the families cannot provide that or explain it to them,” Baniaga said. “It makes you feel good as a person to do that for them.”
Info: Cherie Linoz at 245-5914.
