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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, December 13, 2007

ADVERTISER CHRISTMAS FUND
They hit bottom and are climbing back up

 • 
Help our neighbors in need

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

HOW TO DONATE

Send checks, payable to "The Advertiser Christmas Fund," to Helping Hands Hawai'i, P.O. Box 17780, Honolulu, HI 96817. Helping Hands will accept credit card donations by telephone, 440-3831. Monetary donations may also be dropped off at any First Hawaiian Bank branch or The Advertiser's cashier desk.

To donate online, go to: www.honoluluadvertiser.com and click on the Christmas Fund icon. Monetary donations help operate Community Clearinghouse programs year-round.

The Advertiser's "Secret Santa" will match the first $25 of every donation to the fund. The anonymous philanthropist last year pitched in $32,600.

Material goods may be taken to the Community Clearinghouse, 2100 N. Nimitz Highway, near Pu'uhale Road. For large-item pickup and additional information, call 440-3804.

Donations may be made to particular families, but please specify the family. The money will be given in the form of a Wal-Mart, Kmart or Longs gift certificate.

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Katie McCollum remembers a time not long ago when she and her husband were doing fine. They had their own place, and she had a good job working for a real estate company.

Then their addiction to drugs took everything away. She lost her job, and her parents took custody of her baby girl. She wound up living in a tent on the beach, and her husband spent some time in jail.

"We ended up getting hooked on drugs and lost everything we had," said McCollum, 22. "We just went downhill."

This year — after her husband entered drug treatment — she decided it was time to turn her life around.

"I realized I wanted my life back," McCollum said. "I decided it wasn't what I wanted to be doing. My family was more important."

Now things are looking up for the couple. They graduated from substance abuse treatment and are living in clean and sober homes. They also got back their 2-year-old daughter, Sadie, and are expecting a baby girl next year.

But finances have been rough. Virtually all of their welfare assistance goes to paying for rent and other necessities. Sometimes they run out of diapers and McCollum has to ask her parents for help. Her daughter is growing out of her clothes, and McCollum can't afford to buy her new outfits.

McCollum said she and her husband want to work so they can get off welfare but that their drug treatment advises them to focus on themselves for a while first. In the meantime they're preparing for new careers. McCollum's husband, 23, is in a culinary arts program at Honolulu Community College, and she plans to begin school to become a medical assistant after she gives birth.

"I'm just thankful to have my family back," McCollum said. "I'm thankful that my daughter's in good health and I get her back in my life. I'm thankful because I'm clean and sober, I'm alive, and I have my family. I have a roof over my head."

Sadie wears a size 3T-4T. McCollum wears a size 12 pants and large shirt/dress, and her husband wears 38 pants and 2X shirts.

RECENT DONATIONS TO THE ADVERTISER CHRISTMAS FUND

Elsie Burkart & Mike Van Dyken — $1,000

Christ United Methodist Church-English Ministry — $1,000

3-Fold Craftsman Construction Inc. — $300

Csoki Haraguchi — $300

Donald Thompson — $300

Bank of Hawaii Downtown Residential Loan Center — $210

Kay & Dick Hollier — $200

Mary & Roxane Sylva — $200

Alex Black — $200

The Kims' grandchildren and great-grandchildren — $200

Byron Kaya — $150

Alvin & Bertha — $100

Michael Black in memory of Pat Black — $100

Diane & John Gabriel — $100

Sally Harper in memory of Bill Harper — $100

Ryan & Rachel Inouye — $100

JFL — $100

Barry & Jean Kuramoto — $100

Kuakini Fire Station 2nd Platoon — $100

Jean & Jin Lim — $100

Mr. & Mrs. Calvin Loo — $100

Helen Matsunaka — $100

Mark C. Mermod — $100

Jean New - New Flooring Inc. — $100

Donald & Alma O'Day — $100

Karen & Juan Roldan — $100

Bruce & Linda Soll — $100

The Sunday Hula Practice Group — $100

Carol Whitesell — $100

Barbara Wilmore — $100

Merilee Hendrickson-Flores & Joseph Flores — $75

Anonymous — $1,000

Anonymous — $1,000

Anonymous — $500

Total — $8,535

Previous total — $78,043.64

Total to date — $86,578.64

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Make a difference. Donate to The Advertiser Christmas Fund.