December 20, 2008
The Keiki Slippah Wish Fund Delivers
The Keiki Slippah Wish Fund rolled through Waianae today, bringing early Christmas cheer to children and families living on the beaches and in shelters. W egathered just as the sun was coming up. We worked assembly-line fashion transferring the slippahs and other gifts to the truck and hanging a banner off the tailgate.
Our first stop was the long-established encampment at Keaau Beach Park. This is one of the largest concentrations of homeless on the coast. One resident told us that about a hundred people left Keaau after the recent floods destroyed or carried away all of their belongings.
The back of the truck was soon surrounded by park residents who were curious as to our mission. We had plenty of slippahs for adults as well as children, so everyone got something.
Additional campers emerged from a wooded area near the park and came to join us. The beach park is fully visible from the highway, so some campers opt to live a little further from the park amenities but with greater privacy.
We had clothing, toys, books and snacks, in addition to slippahs. This young girl shared her beautiful smile with us and was quite happy with her tee shirt and teddy bear.
Volunteer Yvonne brought a large bag of slippahs with her. She had the only pair that fit this young boy. His mom had a baby this morning, so he and his brother are being tended by family and friends at the camp, who made sure they weren’t left out of the distribution.
We discoverd that most of the smaller slippahs had been left in the trunk of a car at our start point, so I left the group and went to get them. They continued on to other encampments and I couldn’t find them after I returned. We finally met up again about an hour later as they arrived at one of the Waianae shelters. We parted company after I delivered the slippahs, as they were headed off the coast to Barber’s Point. My involvement was minimal this year, but it was great to have the opportunity to participate. Next year I hope to have the chance to offer online suport, as I expect to be living away from Hawaii by then.
Mahalo to my readers who donated to the Slippah Fund, and to friends and fellow bloggers who helped spread the word. The Keiki Slippah Wish Fund Project is a grassroots effort, so each of your contributions is greatly appreciated!
[tags]charity, Christmas charity, Hawaii, homeless, Keiki Slippah Wish Fund[/tags]
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
December 21st, 2008 at 2:12 am, Muhd Imran Says:
I still remember this kind act from your blog before. It was during Christmas time too last year.
Wow! Didn’t know that time had passed so quickly. Here you are doing the same kind thing again.
Incidentally, the Malay language call the flip-flops “selipah” too. Cool. Not sure where the word originated from though. It most probably been adapted by the olden people then, but from the sound that it makes when people wearing it walked, it sounded like its name.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful act. I am happy just looking at the happy faces it makes especially for the kids there.
It is indeed paradise there.
Have a great weekend!