Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 12, 1 December 2008 — Maui's sole Boys and Girls Club on homestead land averts closure [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Maui's sole Boys and Girls Club on homestead land averts closure

Pledged funds will give it six more months By Lisa Asatū Public lnfūrmatiūn Specialist It's a Tuesday afternoon at the Boys and Girls Club in Paukūkalo near Wailuku, Maui, and students are passing the afterschool hours in various pursuits - from the cerebral (homework), to creative (arts and crafts) to laid-back fun (movie-watching) to physical fitness (flag football). The club - whieh is Maui's sole Boys and Girls Club on homestead land - was facing closure this month due to a laek of funds, but was granted a reprieve when the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, federal Office of Iuvenile Iustice and Delinquency Protection and the club's nation-

al organization pledged enough funds that would keep the club open through lune 2009. "I would be so sad if the club were to close," said Uluwehi Ornellas, a freshman at the Hawaiian inunersion school Kula Kaiapuni 'o Kekaulike in Pukalani. "I know it changed me a lot," she said, adding that the program has taught her discipline. "Now I'm more mature, I get good grades, and I stay out of trouble - all thanks to Aunty Heidi guys, especially Ululani over there," she said, referring to Heidi Kalehuawehe, who runs the site, and Zerwas "Ulu" Tolentino, a part-time staffer whose four ehikken attend the afterschool program. "My kids love it here," said Tolentino, who was overseeing a game of Monopoly among elementary school children. She too, praises Kalehuawehe, but from the parents' point of view. "If a parent is late, we'll

stay and wait till the last kid leaves," she said. "Heidi is really good." For her part, Kalehuawehe said her main goal is "making sure the kids have a safe plaee to be, and making sure that they want to be here and don't feel forced to be here." At Paukūkalo, she helped build enrolhnent to between 75 and 90 students a day, from 20 students several years ago, by visiting schools and organizations, through radio announcements and membership signups at Queen Ka'ahumanu Center. Students eome from Wailuku, Klhei, Pukalani, Makawao, Kula, and Pāi'a. "So basically all over except Hāna and Lahaina," she said. Kelly Pearson, operations director for Boys and Girls Clubs of Maui, said the nonprofit runs six sites and several outreach programs for youths age 6 to 17, charging $5 annually per person. Ten dollars will cover famihes of two or more children. It

costs $150,000 per year to run the Paukūkalo program, she said, adding "The goal is to get enough funding to sustain the program and not have to worry about it year to year." Boys and Girls Clubs offer opportunities for youths that they otherwise might not get, she said, like attending the Cal Ripken basehall eamp in Maryland, whieh eight youths from the BGC of Maui attended in August, including Paukūkalo's Po'okela Moniz, an ll-year-old second baseman who

attends Waihe'e Elementary. The eight were selected on "participation in club activities, how they're doing on their schoolwork, if they help around the club," said Pearson. "The kids had to earn it - there was a reason they were sent." For 8-year-old Leeanna Murray, whose cousin and sister also attend the Paukūkalo afterschool program, the site holds a tastier kind of promise. Asked what her favorite part is, the fourth grader said, "Snack packs!" S

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