It was four years ago this month, that Ric Cox, stood before the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay and invited his fellow Rotarians to join him in adopting the classrooms at Kilauea School. “Adoption requires a contribution of $700,” Cox
It was four years ago this month, that Ric Cox, stood before the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay and invited his fellow Rotarians to join him in adopting the classrooms at Kilauea School.
“Adoption requires a contribution of $700,” Cox said. “Five hundred is for classroom supplies, $200 for a field trip.”
Within weeks, all 13 classes at Kilauea had been adopted. A few weeks later, the group had adopted all 17 teachers at Hanalei and six at Kanuikapono, the public charter school in Anahola.
The next year, all 36 K-6 classrooms at those three North Shore public schools were re-adopted.
Also in 2014, under a program called iPals4iPads, the Rotary club provided 160 Apple iPad minis to the schools at Kilauea and Hanalei.
As a pilot program, they also created Adopt an After-School Club and funded 24 weekly mentoring clubs at Kilauea.
In May 2015, Hanalei Rotary transferred those three programs to Aloha Angels, a donor-advised fund at Hawaii Community Foundation. Spreading its new wings, it adopted all 229 homeroom teachers at Kauai’s 12 public elementary schools. In addition, it funded 49 after-school clubs at six schools.
This year, for the second year in a row, Aloha Angels adopted all 212 homeroom teachers at those 12 schools and one private middle school (Pu‘ukumu). It also funded 64 clubs at 10 schools. And, thanks to a $48,000 gift from an anonymous donor, it is funding 150 computers at Hanalei School. Now every student there, and at Kilauea, will have classroom access to a computer any time during the day.
