Posted on: Wednesday, October 20, 2004
A day for good deeds
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
At Iolani School, Cheri Keefer tossed a wad of clay across the table for one of her fourth-graders to catch. That clay was to be fashioned into a paperweight for an upcoming eco-fair.
"To learn about water and why we should conserve it," explained cute, blond-headed Logan Davis, 9, his hands dusted in gray as he rolled the cold clay into a Hershey-Kiss-like water drop.
That afternoon at a Manoa park, older boys were making masks for their Water Warriors costumes for the same fair.
Elsewhere, organizers are fielding calls asking if they still are seeking volunteers for one of the projects listed on the Make a Difference Day registry. Oftentimes, the answer is yes.
It seems as if some people have been preparing for ages for Make a Difference Day, when thousands of Hawai'i residents will shift into philanthropic high gear, cleaning up the 'aina, gathering up goods for the needy and heating up the island with good karma. Last year, an estimated 3 million people participated across the country in the event, sponsored by the USA Weekend and Points of Light Foundation.
Hurry and log on if you want to get your project listed on the DAYtabank, because it takes a little time to register. But there are plenty of projects for Hawai'i listed there, if you want to be a willing cog in the wheel.
• • • Kuleana eco-fair More specifically, fourth-graders dressed up as water gadgets were promenading their way through a school courtyard at a fashion show as their classmates applauded.
Saturday's fair, which seeks to increase awareness of water conservation and pollution prevention, has been long in the making as participants prepared items for their booths and students scraped together costumes from recycled materials. On Make a Difference Day, hundreds of students from six area schools will join in the Water Warrior parade, a costume contest using recycled materials, interactive exhibits, games and refreshments.
More than 40 groups are helping out with the fair, including these fourth-graders at Iolani, whose costumes — there are at least three shower stalls, a makeshift turtle, a reef, a dolphin caught in a net, a sombrero-wearing xeriscape garden and even a human-sized bottle of water among them — fit right into their science curriculum.
"Don't be a drip," is the note on one tow-headed fellow who has fashioned himself into a water droplet. "Save water."
• • • Collecting toys for Iraqi children
Advertiser library photo This Saturday, organizers hope to amass a pile even bigger than before, when eight boxes were sent to Iraq for members of an engineering battalion from Schofield Barracks to distribute to children in Iraq.
Zachary Allen, an 18-year-old high school senior, and Kristina Schrull, a KCC student whose husband is in Iraq, are coordinating the project, collecting "new-ish" toys, games, books and clothing.
But please, no Mortal Kombat action figures, GI Joes or Barbies. "It needs to be politically generic," said Service Learning coordinator Phoenix Lundstrom, and suitable for a conservative Arab society.
If you can't get to one of the dropoff sites, call for pickup (see number, above). Allen will be among those on pickup duty.
"It's not much, but it's something," he said.
• • • Algae cleanup
Courtesy Signe Opheim Here, people will be forming a water-to-land handoff, removing alien invasive algae from the coral reefs, explained volunteer coordinator Signe Opheim.
Scuba divers will clear algae from the reefs, stuffing the goo into burlap sacks. Free divers will bring the burlap sacks up to the surface, where surfers will deliver it to shore. Ashore, it will be deposited in recycling containers, where — with the help of algae experts — the native algae and invertebrates and fish will be sorted out and returned to the reef.
Whatever alien algae is left over then gets taken to Hawaiian Earth Products, which will turn it into mulch.
"We're not actually throwing away anything; it's all getting recycled," said Opheim. "We're also saving as many as the critters as possible."
The Make a Difference Day event is the latest in a series of algae removals in a project that has been under way for a year and a half. This day will involve not only those groups mentioned, but students from Iolani and Punahou helping as free divers, carting the bags and sorting the seaweed.
"It takes about 100 people, between water and shore," Opheim said. "We're in the water for most the day, so by the end, we're pretty sunburned. But it's a cool event and pretty nontraditional."
If anyone else wants to volunteer, organizers can use help from free divers and ashore.
"Mainly, they can't be actual scuba divers but can do anything else," she said, adding that the group is providing lunch as a way to say thanks to its volunteers. (So if you want to earn yourself a "thank-you" meal, be sure to call or e-mail your intentions by Friday.)
The point of the exercise?
Make a Difference Day
KUALENA ECO-FAIR
Nine-year-old Iolani School fourth-grader Jennifer Totoki parades in her Shower Water Warrior costume.
Iolani fourth-grader Ashlee Takushi, 9, costumed herself as a bottle of water to urge folks to conserve.
Nine-year-old Iolani fourth-grader Erin Napier shows off one of many glazed ceramic water droplets she and her classmates made.
Photos by Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The faucets and washers and showers were running ... er, make that walking ... Monday at Iolani School.
A giant stuffed donkey perches on the desk at the Kapi'olani Community College's Service Learning Office atop a box of other toys, games and gently used children's clothes.
Stuffed animals, dolls and clothes are being gathered for distribution in Iraq.
Probably the gooiest project in the list will be taking place in Waikiki.
Volunteers sort native and invasive seaweed gathered in Waikiki.
