HCAP WEEKLY December 15, 2025

Mahalo to Holomua and Helemano Elementary Schools For Their Generous Donations to the Kokua E Hanai Keiki Program!

Even during tough times, two communities came together to support HCAP’s Central District Service Center’s Kokua E Hanai Keiki Program (Help Feed the Children). Holomua and Helemano Elementary Schools held their annual canned food and hygiene drives to help support HCAP and their community. Although each school hails from different parts of the island, they both hold the same big hearts and aloha.

Central District Service Center’s Kokua E Hani Keiki program began nearly 20 years ago in efforts to provide a supportive service that many households in need could benefit from. Over the years, the requests Central District staff received for essential hygiene products greatly increased. Both schools embraced the community’s needs and incorporated hygiene products into their annual canned food drives. The original goal “to help feed the children” has grown into a broader mission. While personal hygiene products are often taken for granted, many households struggle with important personal items such as toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, women’s personal products and laundry soap. Being able to provide this type of emergency assistance has become a big part of the wraparound services provided at Central District Service Center.

While Helemano and Holomua Elementary School families may have experienced their own fair share of hardship over the past few months, they still dug deep to support the Kokua E Hanai Keiki Program. With the guidance of Leigh Padilla, this year’s Helemano Student Council students turned their annual holiday canned food drive into a Toiletry Drive held in November. Mrs. Padilla shared, “It is an initiative aimed at providing essential personal care items to those in our community, and we believe that small acts of kindness can create a big impact for others. As a Helemano Ohana, we can create a strong and supportive community where everyone has access to basic necessities.”

HCAP’s Central District Service Center would like to thank Leigh Padilla from Helemano Elementary School and Kendyl Eugenio from Holomua Elementary School for coordinating the drives and their support of HCAP’s programs. Both schools showed how different groups of people can join hands to care for one another and pass on these traditions to their keiki. HCAP would also like to thank Helemano and Holomua Elementary School’s dedicated staff and wonderful students and families who continue to support HCAP’s efforts. Central District staff are honored to be able to be a part of such a wonderful project and grateful for the continued support.

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Single Mother of Four Turns Life Around Through ECS

Kollett reached out to HCAP’s Windward District Center for vocational assistance through the Nā Lima Hana Employment Core Services program in August of 2024. Kollett expressed how she wanted to complete a program at Hawaii Medical College, but couldn’t afford it. Hearing her concerns, Kollett was guided in completing the HCAP intake application to determine which services could help with her goals. After completing intake, she was found to be eligible for all HCAP programs.

As a single parent of four children who resided in a transitional shelter, she did not, at the time, have a means of income. She believed obtaining a certificate to pursue a career in healthcare would allow her to accomplish her goal of self-sufficiency.

Kollett enrolled in HCAP’s Nā Lima Hana Employment Core Services (ECS) and completed the program’s job readiness training, which includes interview practice, learning basic computer skills, job searching, time management training and resume building. During this time, Kollett was also assisted with applying for Hawaii Medical College and was shortly accepted into their phlebotomy program. Nā Lima Hana was able to assist her with tuition assistance in order to begin classes in September 2024. For 3 months, she worked persistently on her courses and training, to which she was soon accredited by The National Health Center Association with a certificate of completion.

HCAP’s Windward District staff referred Kollett to multiple jobs in her field through Nā Lima Hana’s employment partners soon after her successful graduation. Through these referrals, Kollett landed a position as a clerical assistant at a medical center and Nā Lima Hana provided her the work attire in order to start employment.

After achieving her goals, Kollett is extremely grateful that she is able to provide for her children and has obtained a living space of their own. We congratulate this entire ohana and look forward to continued success. 

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Head Start Families Learn the Importance of Oral and Dental Health

HCAP’s Head Start and Early Head Start staff partnered with parents to increase health literacy. During this month’s parent workshops, Family Advocates and Health Specialists educated parents on the importance of oral and dental health. Families and children program-wide participated in dental-focused educational activities that not only increased their knowledge of proper oral and dental care but also fostered continued development of their cognitive, fine motor and self help skills. Parents made connections between the importance of lifelong dental health and the concepts of emphasizing choices and natural consequences that were learned through their Love and Logic sessions.

Children identified, colored and cut out images of food items from a workbook and placed them on a good and bad chart as a way to distinguish between food items that promote and impede good oral and dental health. In class, children practiced proper flossing on the teeth included in their classroom’s educational dental kit and discussed what food they considered as good or bad for their teeth and explained why. They also learned about the consequences of improper oral and dental care while examining a decaying tooth through a magnifying glass. As a take home resource, children received dental coloring workbooks and dental care kits that were donated from Hawaii Dental Service. Giving our families and children practical and engaging support for lifelong health starts with early oral and dental health education!

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