Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki (Support the Keiki) to Advance the Common Good for All Hawai‘i Island Keiki

By Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco

A child’s big, innocent eyes gaze out into the distance. He waits street side, anticipating excitement, yet remaining ever-so-patient. He is surrounded by his ‘ohana who summon the minivan down the street. Reminiscent of waiting for Santa Claus or a Fairy Godmother, and yet, this is not a mythical figure who is here to fill Christmas stockings or sprinkle pixie dust into gifts. This arrival is better.

The minivan’s sliding door opens, and a tender moment is suspended in time as this third grader receives his bag of food, spilling over with cereal, soups, rice, and a mix of food for that day’s meal.

A bag of food, imagine that, so simple yet so powerful, and why? Because this young child’s parents have lost their jobs, or maybe their house; they are struggling to get by, and the basic supply of food is suddenly just beyond their grasp. The teachers know who these children and families are, yet humble and unseen to many else, it is the need of these children that drives this minivan into town.

This is how the Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki food program started, with a food delivery for one child for one day. Four years later, through the passionate efforts of the program leaders and sponsors, Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki now delivers enough food to feed a family of three-to-four people for three days. The program was started and is still run today by Ka‘ea Lyons and Jaz Yglesias. This is the same duo who are the on-air radio personalities for KAPA radio—Jaz and Ka‘ea of the Bolohead and Babes morning show.

Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki is a community initiative that serves the children of Hawai‘i Island three times a year with their Slipper Drive in March, the School Supply Drive in July, and the Food Drive in December.

It all started in July 2011, during the morning show on KAPA radio when Ka‘ea, then a full-time teacher and part-time DJ, was talking about putting some money aside for backup school supplies.

Jaz questioned, “Is this for your kids?”

Ka‘ea replied, “No, this is for my students.”

As many teachers do, Ka‘ea was using personal funds to furnish materials to the students who could not afford to have complete school supplies.

Jaz said, “Well, that is wrong!”

Sharing the same passion to support the keiki, the seed was planted and Jaz and Ka‘ea set out to bring school supplies to the elementary schools.

After researching which schools and communities had the biggest need, Jaz and Ka‘ea approached KAPA radio to do live broadcasts promoting the need for school supplies. During the live shows, people would drop off bags of schools supplies: paper, pencils, crayons, binders, and ‘any kind’ materials needed for the start of the school year. Jaz and Ka‘ea laugh over each other’s recollection of this time saying that they did a lot on their own at the start of this program, from organizing and delivering to keeping up with the volume of donations.

At first, they loaded their personal cars for deliveries, and soon they realized the need to rent minivans.

They did that on their own, while packaging and making the drop-off lists to fit the need. As Jaz and Ka‘ea were making deliveries around the island, they took the time to interview the school principals and teachers to find out what the necessities were for their disadvantaged school children. Immediately the school administrators mentioned that in addition to school supplies, slippers and food were needed.

From the first round of donations in July 2011, the next program to take flight was the slipper drive in March 2012. As the first slipper drive progressed, the community supported the program with bags and boxes of new slippers for the keiki, monetary donations, and in-kind volunteering.

Soon, Jaz and Ka‘ea were enveloped with people who shared their passion.

An important partner entered their lives when Ka‘ea met Cathie Amelotte of Hawai‘i Island United Way. This was the beginning of a community relationship that still stands strong today. Cathie helped to further organize the administration of the donations by establishing the community initiative of Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki as a part of the Hawai‘i Island United Way’s Community Initiative.

Together with United Way, the goal was established to “ensure that the children are protected and safe at school; have an increased level of self-esteem by not being bullied due to lack of essential items; are school-ready and come to school ready to succeed.”

One year into the school supplies and slipper drives, the teachers and families have seen the difference these simple items make in the children’s attitude, confidence, and self-esteem.

In between multiple jobs, parenting, and life events, Jaz and Ka‘ea found themselves on the brink of the third program—providing food to the children in need. Through more community research, they found that the timing of the food drive was as important as the nourishment. Children who normally have free or reduced meals at school have no access to the meals during schools intersession. This food insecurity prompted the timing of the December 2012 food drive.

In the first year, the DJ team made up a menu of what food was needed and delivered to a low-income housing area in Kona.

Jaz says, “We would drive up, honk our horn and say, ‘Come eat.’”

Ka‘ea interjects, “But we realized we did not have enough money to provide all the food,” and with tears welling up and spilling over, Ka‘ea begins to thank the people who gave this first food program its roots.

Tom Newhouse, former KAPA radio sales manager, helped to create promotion/sponsor packages to help run live broadcasts at the Christmas in Keauhou events. Here, the community could enjoy holiday music at the Keauhou Shopping Center and make donations.

Ka‘ea says, “For three Wednesday nights, the schools would perform, and on the third Wednesday, local musician Kuana Torres Kahele donated his time for the show and gave $1,000 to the food drive. That’s how we were able to feed the kids.” Jaz says, “Our goal was to feed 1,000 kids and we exceeded the goal because of these donations.”

While the Kako‘o o i na Keiki started as a grassroots program, the Hawai‘i Island United Way has complimented it with regular surveys to the schools and published impact reports. There is a formula for how many schools participate with the percentage of the eligible students to determine the donation goal for each of the three programs: slippers, school supplies, and food. While the United Way program administration is beneficial, the process is still a grassroots method, dependent on the volunteers who give kōkua (service/help) and the public for donations.

In year three, the Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki food program partnered with The Food Basket and specifically, their Executive Director, En Young.

Ka‘ea comments, “Instead of making up the meal packages and going to the neighborhoods, we wanted to get the food in the hands of the children.”

Through a variety of resources, a specific menu of dietary needs was created, coupled with the formula for how many red-flagged families to feed, the program leaders determined the bag count for each school. While fundraising and donations were steady, the program’s United Way account was thinning out as the food program was about to be delivered.

Seeing the need, The Food Basket, at the direction of En Young, partnered with Jaz and Ka‘ea to help with more food resources. Jaz says, “Where we used to feed the kids for one day, now the bags are going to select students to feed the family for three days.”

With the efforts of many volunteers and sponsors, Jaz and Ka‘ea commend the dedicated support from Kelcie Kohara of the United Way in Hilo. Kelcie helps to organize all three programs on the east side of the island.

Now, while Jaz and Ka‘ea are still personally at each site, Kelcie has stepped in to coordinate the behind-the-scenes activities on the east side to make the programs run smoothly.

Jaz exudes his appreciation in saying, “Kelcie’s in the trenches with us from the beginning. We don’t find many people like us that just want to do this, have the passion for it, and don’t want anything in return; they’re doing it because of the need. Kelcie rocks it!”

Roberts of Hawai‘i, on board in year two, provides all the transportation for the deliveries and the volunteers to do the loading/unloading of all the boxes.

Jaz says, “[Roberts] have been with us from the start. I hurt my back with this last delivery, and the drivers called in muscle for the next day.”

These are a few of the examples of the unspoken kōkua (help) and the foundation of this community project.

Jaz and Ka‘ea manage the Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki program as a separate community initiative from their full-time jobs at the radio station. KAPA radio is the promotional vehicle for the program and an extremely important part of the overall campaign. With more than a dozen program sponsors, the support of the program grows each year.

It is estimated that Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki needs $30,000 annually to keep the three programs funded. This amount will rise as the programs expand to include more of the children in need.

The actions and passion of Jaz and Ka‘ea reach far beyond the boundaries of an average citizen. Their dream is to build awareness in the community to the ongoing need and turn that awareness into participation as part of our kuleana (responsibility) in living on this island.

“The need is there every day in the schools for supplies, food, and slippers,” Ka‘ea says. She continues with a heart full of emotion, “I should feel excited that we are ‘done,’ but we are never done. We are done with the drop offs, and that is pau, but the work is never done and the need is always there.”

For some perspective on the statistics and need in our communities, there are 42 public elementary schools on Hawai‘i Island, with a current enrollment of 23,769 students. Seventy one percent (16,900) of these children are in the Free and Reduced Lunch Program.

The Kāko‘o ‘o I Nā Keiki July 2014 school supplies drive raised school supplies for approximately 35 schools, the March 2014 slipper drive provided 1,000+ pairs of slippers to 100% of the public elementary schools (approximately 50-90 pairs of slippers per school), and the December 2013 food drive served 2,450 lunches.

As Jaz and Ka‘ea, who carry the torch for the keiki in so many ways, comment, “there is always a need for more.” ❖

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Donations are accepted all year at:

Hawai‘i Island United Way: HiUnitedWay.org
Click on Kāko’o ‘o I Nā Keiki Partnership for an online donation to this specific community initiative.

KAPA Radio: KapaRadio.com
For information about drop-off locations for school supplies, slippers, and food; or contact Jaz or Ka‘ea directly.

To volunteer: kaea@pmghawaii.com or kelcie@hiuw.org

Photos courtesy of: Jaz Yglesias, Ka‘ea Lyons, Ku‘ehu Mauga

Contact Ka‘ea Lyons: kaea@pmghawaii.com
Contact Jaz Yglesias: jaz@pmghawaii.com
Contact writer Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco: gayle.greco@gmail.com