Posted on: Saturday, January 15, 2005
Gifts on way to tsunami survivors
| • | $38M tsunami plan includes upgrade for Hawai'i facility |
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Toys and other merchandise are flying out of the Navy Exchange warehouse and into the arms of people far away who have little else to call their own.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser The High Speed Vessel (HSV2) Swift was due to arrive early today for a brief Pearl Harbor stopover before heading out this afternoon on its relief mission.
Aboard will be thousands of toys, towels, shirts, ponchos and other items, said Navy spokesman Lt. Kent Hepler, who then pondered an estimate of the quantity.
"It's at least enough to fill a semi," he said.
It won't be clear until after the Swift gets under way exactly where the goods will be distributed, Hepler added.
East-West Center Tsunami Relief Fund: Drop off donations at any First Hawaiian Bank branch or at the East-West Center reception desk, 1601 East West Road.
American Red Cross, Hawai'i Chapter: Mail checks, payable to American Red Cross International Response Fund, to 4155 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI 96816. Write "South Asia earthquake/tsunami" in the memo area. People can make credit-card donations by calling the Red Cross on O'ahu at 734-2101 or the national Red Cross at (800) Help-Now (435-7669). Sri Lanka Relief Drive: Checks payable to "Windward Rotary-Sri Lanka Tsunami Fund" may be dropped off at any Bank of Hawaii branch or mailed to Rotary Club of Windward O'ahu, P.O. Box 122, Kailua, HI 96734. Information: 732-0878. "But they would give out a stuffed animal, and the children would warm up to the doctors and get the care they needed," Hepler said.
The word went out Wednesday that the Navy was seeking toy donations. Diane and Harry Vantrees, a Honolulu couple, were among the many who heard the call. Diane Vantrees said she invested some thought and prayer in the question of how to respond and then remembered what had worked so well years earlier, during a project to aid Bosnian refugees.
Matchbox and Hot Wheels toy cars: "They were affordable, they were sturdy, they were packable," she said.
The couple got a discount from Toys "R" Us and spent about $7,000 of their own money for about 7,000 of the little cars, as well as about a dozen soccer balls.
Some of the donations came from the drive spearheaded by the Sri Lankan community, goods that had been warehoused by the companies Oceanit in Honolulu and 5A Rent-a-Space in Kapolei.
Ian Kitajima, Oceanit's marketing manager, worked with a volunteer crew of Hawai'i Pacific University baseball players yesterday to inspect and move a truckload of boxes from the Kapolei site to the Navy Exchange, where it was added to the pile destined for the Swift.
The rest of the donations bound for Sri Lanka, still sitting in Oceanit storage, will fill two shipping containers donated from NYK Lines, Kitajima said. Next week, a crew will pack the containers, scheduled to leave Hawai'i Jan. 23 for Sri Lanka.
Weaving this lei of generosity has been a sometimes overwhelming task but one that gives new meaning to the expression "labor of love," Kitajima and Hepler agreed. Gifts have ranged from the manpower of a baseball team to toys from individuals and businesses. And 5A Rent-a-Space bought lunch for the team, Kitajima said, a sizeable gift in itself.
Vantrees, a volunteer at Washington Intermediate School, thought a personal touch would complete the care package. She plans to head down to the Swift loading dock to enclose with the toys a sheaf of notes of sympathy and support written by about two dozen students. All these gestures, she said, connect us to the world.
"When you do something as simple as a Matchbox car or a letter, it affects you," Vantrees said. "We're just very grateful we can do this for them."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
The donations sprang from the kind hearts of many in Hawai'i and today will begin making their way to the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami survivors through the help of the U.S. Navy.
Members of the Hawai'i Pacific University baseball team helped load boxes of toys yesterday at the Navy Exchange near Pearl Harbor for children affected by the Indian Ocean disaster. A Navy vessel will pick up the toys today and take them to survivors.
The Navy in Hawai'i felt inspired to act by accounts from the USS Abraham Lincoln, the carrier dispatched earlier to the region. Crew members related how children had been frightened by the medics.
Local relief efforts
