By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Farrington High School teacher Laura Sato said her students sat and read every one of them.

"And there are stacks of letters," she said. "It just brings tears to your eyes."

When 19 members of Farrington's Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club won top spots in the state championship and advanced to the national competition this summer, the students didn't know how they would come up with the money to pay for the trip.

Farrington had never qualified such a big group before — 19 of the 29 students representing Hawai'i — and each student had to come up with $1,165 for airfare to Chicago and accommodations, not including meals.

These are kids who come from tough backgrounds and poor neighborhoods. Most of the older ones already work after-school jobs to help their families make ends meet. One boy works part-time at Longs to save up for braces.

But these kids are much more than hard-luck cases. They're serious, determined students who spend many hours at school late into the night and on weekends to polish the cooking techniques, public speaking skills and written reports required for the competition. When they talk about their individual projects, they look you straight in the eye, square their shoulders and speak with authority. They're very impressive young men and women.

The story of the Farrington team's Rocky-like quest to compete with the best struck a chord in the community.

"We got notes and cards with checks from retired teachers, former counselors and alumni of the school," Sato said. "But we also got thousand-dollar checks from people we don't even know, people who aren't connected to the school in any way that we know."

By Thursday of last week, four days after a story about the team ran in the Advertiser, the school had received donations to meet the team's goal of $22,000.

Many people also wrote heartfelt notes of encouragement about their own struggles and humble beginnings and the hard work that led to success in their lives. They told the kids to go to Chicago and to make Hawai'i proud.

The Farrington FCCLA club had set out to raise money by baking cookies, and someone gave them bags of chocolate chips to help. Chef Dan Swift of Kapi'olani Community College single-handedly baked 500 loaves of bread for the students to sell.

"People really do support education," Sato said. "And we're overwhelmed with their generosity."

The thank-you letter the students are composing to send to each donor explains that it will be the first trip to the Mainland for many of the students. For two of them, it will be their first plane ride.

The letter says: "We promise to do our best."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com