LIHUE — Volunteers, many from the Parents and Children Together office in Kapaa, greeted early morning shoppers with a special Keiki Day edition of The Garden Island newspaper outside the Starbucks store in the Kukui Grove Center. “We’re waiting for
LIHUE — Volunteers, many from the Parents and Children Together office in Kapaa, greeted early morning shoppers with a special Keiki Day edition of The Garden Island newspaper outside the Starbucks store in the Kukui Grove Center.
“We’re waiting for the mayor to come,” said Ha‘aheo Mansfield of PACT. “This is exciting. To be able to ‘sell’ newspapers with the mayor. I came because he is supposed to be here with us.”
Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. was one of the “celebrity sellers” for the Keiki Day edition, arriving to excitement of the PACT volunteers, and surprising everyone with a proclamation, celebrating May 4 as Parents and Children Together Keiki Day.
PACT is one of Hawaii’s largest family-service organizations with 16 programs in early education, mental health, child abuse, and domestic violence prevention and treatment as well as community, teen, and economic development.
These programs span the state of Hawaii with more than 18,000 benefiting from its umbrella of services.
On Kauai, the PACT office located in the East Kauai Professional Center in Kapaa, focuses on three primary areas — Intensive Support Services, Multisystemic Therapy, and Functional Family Therapy.
Keiki Day, sponsored by PACT and celebrating its 25th year, is the largest fundraising event of the year with funds being used in areas where it is most needed in the program network.
Vonn Ramos, the director of the Kauai PACT office, said in addition to the location outside of Starbucks, the crew was planning to sell papers outside the Walmart store.
