Question: For many years there was a teacher who recycled Christmas cards into books for needy children. Whatever happened to her? Does anyone still do this?
Answer: Merlinda Oania retired from Waipahu Intermediate School a few years ago, ending the Christmas alphabet book project, but a friend and former colleague of hers is renewing the tradition. Teacher Joyce Verduzco said she would be happy to receive used Christmas cards (fronts only) from Kokua Line readers to use in a literacy and volunteer project with her WIS English Language Learners, as Oania did before her.
We’re sure readers will be pleased to hear this news, as we perennially receive questions about the project, which Oania led for more than a decade, until 2014.
“I look forward to renewing this project that Mrs. Oania kept going for so many years. Please tell your readers thank you so much for supporting it,” said Verduzco, who teaches seventh graders learning English as a second language. “I would like to work with my current ELLs on a volunteer basis, so I can teach my students about volunteer work that goes a very long way.”
Students will use images from the card fronts to illustrate alphabet books that teach them English vocabulary, spelling and grammar. The books will be donated to children who are hospitalized or otherwise in need during the holiday season.
Collecting and preparing the materials is a year-round task. Anyone who has saved last year’s Christmas cards can mail them now, or wait until after the holidays to mail this year’s batch. To be clear, Verduzco is looking for illustrated card fronts in good condition, to go with words and phrases the students will write.
Mail them to:
Joyce Verduzco, Waipahu Intermediate School, 94-455 Farrington Highway, Waipahu, HI 96797.
Verduzco, who worked with Oania for years, said Oania remains an active community volunteer in retirement.
According to our archives, Verduzco will be the fourth Oahu woman to carry on the Christmas alphabet book tradition. It started in the 1980s with the late Helen Daniels, known as “the Christmas card lady of Kailua.” Oania took up the project after Daniels’ successor bowed out due to family obligations.
Auwe
Auwe to the lady who brought in the two tourists to the Cathedral Basilica on Fort Street Mall during the Mass; the Gospel was being read and the priest started to give the sermon and these three ladies walked all the way up to the Marianne and Fr. Damien relics and … and hopped over the rope that you’re not supposed to cross and took pictures while the Mass was going and then just walked out like there was nobody in the church. If that’s not disrespect I don’t know what is.
(We followed up with the Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, which displays relics from saints Damien de Vuester and Marianne Cope, the priest and nun who cared for leprosy patients banished to Molokai in the 19th century. The church, at 1184 Bishop Street, welcomes visitors, who generally are respectful, said administrator Alika Cullen. A stanchion is placed before the noon daily Mass and removed immediately afterward. “We rope the area off during that time, so Mass is not disrupted, and usually people wait,” he said.)
Mahalo
Special thanks to the young woman at Safeway on Piikoi who, without hesitation, offered to pay for my groceries when I discovered after changing bags that I did not have my wallet. I had spent time collecting all the items and I’m sure my face registered shock when I looked at the clerk and realized I would have to put everything back. The young woman did not want me to have to return or to face any difficulties and generously paid for my groceries. Mahalo. — Sally T.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had the wrong zip code on the Waipahu Intermediate School mailing address.
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.
