No efforts currently known that recycle holiday cards

Question: Why haven’t you printed anything about the lady who collects Christmas cards every year to make into little books for sick children?

Question: I have a whole big box of beautiful greeting cards I’ve received for Christmas, birthdays and other occasions. … They are in such good condition that I can’t bear to throw them away. Do you know of anyone who recycles cards for crafts or some other positive purpose?

Answer: It’s that time of year when some readers are thinking about ways to repurpose cherished holiday cards, but Merlinda Oania, “the lady” in question, no longer has a suitable project. She has retired from Waipahu Intermediate School, where for more than 10 years she used the cards in her English as a Second Language classes. Her students learned English vocabulary, grammar and syntax as they recycled card fronts into alphabet and poetry books. The books, in turn, were given as small gifts to needy children and to youngsters who were hospitalized over the holidays.

Oania last accepted the card fronts in 2014 and mentioned then that she would be retiring. She confirmed in a Kokua Line column published in January that she was winding down her work and no longer soliciting cards. We tried to contact her more recently to see if she had found a successor, but were unable to reach her. We also contacted the Friends of the Library of Hawaii, Shriners Hospitals for Children, and Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children to see if they knew of any similar projects, but spokespeople for all three had no leads.

So, although we don’t know of any individuals or groups recycling Christmas cards this year, we’d be happy to hear from Kokua Line readers who do. Email us at kokualine@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4773 and leave a message. We’ll publish the contact information or pass it along privately to the individual readers who inquired, whichever the collector prefers.

Oania, it should be noted, was carrying on a tradition started by the late Helen Daniels of Kailua, who was known as “The Christmas Card Lady” and distributed hundreds of the handcrafted books over a dozen years. Failing health forced her to hand off the project to Cindy Delgado in 1997; Daniels died in 2000 at age 82. Delgado, a Honolulu woman, had to step away from the volunteer effort in 2002 because one of her children was seriously ill, and that’s when Oania stepped up.

If any readers are interested in resurrecting Daniels’ labor of love, or putting their own twist on a completely new project that can put holiday cards to a good use, please let us know.

And speaking of retired Waipahu Intermediate School teachers, the school is trying to connect with retired faculty ahead of its 50th anniversary next year. For more information, see 808ne.ws/1RaN6v5.

Q: Have the rules changed for the King Street bike lane? I’ve seen a moped in there, a lady jogging, even a guy in a motorized wheelchair.

A: No, only bicycles are legally allowed to use the King Street Protected Bike Lane, which extends about 2 miles from Alapai Street to Isenberg Street along the mauka side. Mopeds and motorcycles are not supposed to be in the lane, except when they momentarily cross it at intersections. That goes for “pedestrians” too, whether the people are walking, jogging, skateboarding, riding a Segway or rolling along in a motorized wheelchair.

We drive that stretch of King Street most weekday evenings, and have noticed a scofflaw or two as you describe. But the vast majority of folks we see in the lane are riding bicycles, as required. The protected lane buffers them from vehicular traffic and is intended to promote commuting by bicycle as a viable alternative in Honolulu, especially once other protected bike lanes feeding into the thoroughfare are created.

The city’s bicycle coordinator is aware that infractions sometimes occur, and advises people who see violations to report them to the Honolulu Police Department. If you notice a pattern to the violations — such as that they occur mostly late at night, or very early in the morning — mention that as well.

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.