Hawaii Volunteers Help 30 Schools for 26 Years Strong

Kathie Wells was drinking her morning coffee in Kailua when a newspaper headline stopped her cold: "The Crumbling of our Public Schools." The story detailed how Hawaii teachers were paying for classroom supplies out of their own pockets.

"I thought to myself, 'Why doesn't someone do something?'" Wells told Hawaii Public Radio. "And then my little voice said, 'Why don't you do something?'"

That kitchen table moment in 2000 sparked Community Helping Schools, a volunteer group that's been matching donors with teachers for 26 years. The model is beautifully simple: schools send wish lists, volunteers find donors, and students write thank you notes.

The donations go far beyond pencils and paper. Over the years, generous community members have given golf clubs for physical education, sewing machines for home economics, gardening tools for school gardens, and even a $10,000 musical organ.

Wells keeps three overflowing boxes of thank you notes from students and teachers. One elementary schooler wrote in 2016: "Because of you, now we can read as a class in literature circles. Now, instead of watching movies, we can read books. Thank you for making learning better."

At its peak in 2012, Community Helping Schools reached over 90 campuses across Oahu. Today, with fewer volunteers, the group focuses on about 30 schools in the windward area.

The Ripple Effect

Everything about Community Helping Schools runs on kindness. The website, legal services to become an official nonprofit, warehouse space, and delivery vans have all been donated over the years.

Patricia Yee, Wells' neighbor and a volunteer since day one, hosts part of the annual garage sale that funds the program each August. She loves seeing the retired teachers who show up every year to support current educators.

"They know how it is as a teacher trying to do their best for their students," Yee said.

The volunteers admit they're an aging group now and hope younger people will join the mission. Anyone across the island can donate items year round through the group's Facebook page.

Twenty six years later, Wells still gets emotional reading thank you notes from teachers whose classrooms are a little brighter because someone cared enough to help.