Hundreds of Kalihi Waena Elementary School students were treated to Breakfast with Santa yesterday morning at the facility's cafeteria — compliments of a number of community groups that have adopted the school that serves some of Hawai'i's most economically disadvantaged youngsters.

The kids were fed, photographed with Santa, treated to fun and games, and were given clothes, healthy snacks and even groceries to take home — thanks to dozens of volunteers who participated in the holiday cheer.

Among the partner organizations involved were the Cathedral of St. Andrew, New Hope Men's Ministries, Way of Salvation Church, Kalihi Union Church, Hope Chapel Kalihi, Farrington High School and the FBI's mentoring program.

Sean Nakamoto, Men's Ministries administrator for New Hope Christian Fellowship, said his group was responsible for booking Santa for the breakfast.

"We also donated some of the food and did some logistics for them," he said. "We just try to help the school out in any way we can."

Principal Laura Vines said close to 80 percent of the 560 students fall below the federal poverty line. She said the school is fortunate to have so many people involved with helping improve her students' circumstances at Christmastime.

"The unique thing is that they give the things the students really need, and that's amazing," Vines said.

For example, the Cathedral of St. Andrew, with an assist from P&E Foods, literally brought home the bacon — along with chicken, franks and other meat products.

The idea was to give struggling families a source of essential quality protein that's often missing from their diets — particularly in today's economic hard times.

"The church actually purchased 1,500 pounds of chicken," said Elizabeth Conklin, chairwoman of the cathedral's outreach committee. "Plus, P&E Foods, which supplied it all to us, threw in another several hundred pounds of miscellaneous meat products."

Williamson Martin and his 8-year-old daughter Vanessa — one of the school cheerleaders at the celebration — were among those who stood in line for the St. Andrew's food packs.

"This is a good program, excellent," said Martin as he checked out the contents. "We got the boxed chicken with the bacon. So, we'll have some dinner."

"This gets right to the need," Conklin said. "This is really important to them."

Vines said a high percentage of the families involved with her school often don't have access to technology others take for granted, such as computers. Many speak little or no English. So serving them requires being flexible.

The annual breakfast celebration has been attached to a school and community council function that's required for explaining the school's academic and financial plan to area residents.

So the school took advantage of the fact that lots of parents and kids would turn out for a Breakfast with Santa by combining it with the required community meeting.

The advantage to the families is that they benefit in ways those more fortunate might overlook — for example, something as simple as having a youngster's picture taken with Santa Claus.

"Many of our families can't afford to pay for pictures of their children with Santa at the mall," Vines said. "So, we offer it free."