Children at Kailua Baptist Preschool will be playing in the shade by this time next year, thanks to the Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program.

Parents and church members planted two monkey pods and three fern trees last weekend with the help of a backhoe donated by C.J. Peterson.

The Kaulunani program, within the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, provides grants up to $10,000 to plant trees, for educational purposes, for Arbor Day activities and for partnership enhancement grants.

Large trees were purchased for the project, which means children will benefit from the shade by next year, said Kay Eargle, director of the preschool.

Tour of marsh tomorrow

A tour to a Maunawili Stream pool, wetland bird habitat at Na Pohaku o Hauwahine and the estuary of Kawainui Marsh, where participants will get a close look at aquatic life, is set for 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Steven Montgomery, Hawaiian entomologist, and Ric Guinther, aquatic resource specialist, will lead the Kawainui Marsh aquatic tour.

A donation of $5 for nonmembers and $3 for students and members of the Kawai Nui Heritage Foundation, Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club and 'Ahahui Malama i ka Lokahi is requested.

Contact Chuck "Doc" Burrows at 595-3922 or e-mail him at cburrows@aloha.net to register.

Workshop for writers at HPU

Writing sessions featuring nonfiction, poetry, fiction and scriptwriting will be part of the Ko'olau Writing Workshops from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow at Hawai'i Pacific University's Windward campus, 45-045 Kamehameha Highway.

Kathleen Norris, poet and author of "Cloister Walk" and "The Virgin of Bennington" and editor of "The Best American Essays 2001" will be the featured speaker. The writing workshops will be led by Roberto Figueroa, fiction; Clinton Frakes, poetry; and Micheline Soong and Phyllis Frus, nonfiction.

HPU also will award its James M. Vaughan Award for Poetry to a Hawai'i writer.

A $10 donation is requested. A free breakfast will be provided. Bring your own lunch; drinks will be provided. To reserve a seat, call 544-9340. Walk-ins also are welcome.

Leeward

Wai'anae Lions to celebrate

The Wai'anae Lions Club will hold a 49th Charter Night Celebration from 5 to 10 p.m. tomorrow at the Wai'anae Army Recreation Center's beach club banquet hall.

The club was chartered on March 28, 1953, and the celebration will honor the club's only remaining charter member, Sakae "Dyke" Kunishige. All interested parties are invited.

A no-host cocktail hour will begin at 6 p.m. Tickets are $21 and will be on sale at the door. For more information, call 668-1448.

Honolulu

Official takes Waikiki post

Longtime state and city government official Barbara Kim Stanton has been named director of the city's Office of Waikiki Development. Mayor Jeremy Harris announced the appointment on Monday.