Memorial fund set up to help family of 5-year-old boy who drowned in Kaaawa

St. Andrew’s Schools has established a memorial fund in honor of The Prep kindergarten student Alaric Chiu, the 5-year-old boy who drowned in a kayaking accident off of Kaaawa last month.

The “Chiu Family Memorial Fund” has been created at First Hawaiian Bank to help the family with funeral services and other expenses, according to a news release from St. Andrew’s Schools. The school will be accepting donations on behalf of the family.

Chiu, 5, and Maria Davis, 63, were both found unresponsive in the waters off a Kaaawa beach the morning of March 28 after their kayak flipped over. Paramedics took them to the hospital where they were pronounced dead. The Medical Examiner’s office earlier this week confirmed drowning as the cause of death for both.

Chiu, a kindergartner at St. Andrew’s Schools, was on an excursion as part of the Mid-Pacific Institute’s spring break program. Davis, a staff member of the spring break program, had taken Chiu, along with two other boys, ages 6 and 9, aboard the kayak. The other two boys were not injured.

Checks should be made out to the “Chiu Family Memorial Fund” and may be mailed to St. Andrew’s Schools, Attn: Business Office, 224 Queen Emma Square, Honolulu, HI 96813.

In addition to establishing the memorial fund, school administrators have been providing ongoing support to students, families, faculty, and staff since their return from spring break this week. A special team of grief counselors has been on campus, St. Andrew’s Schools said, including the school’s counselors and clergy along with outside counselors, psychologists, and a therapy dog