Helping Hands Hawaii’s seasonal Adopt-A-Family program began distributing donations from this year’s 196 donors to families in need this weekend.

This year, 277 families out of 600 were adopted by donors, while the remaining families will have their wish lists fulfilled by the agency through support from its community partners, said Helping Hands Hawaii program manager Kristine Garabiles.

“Looking at what the donors are dropping off, we have very generous donors who are really wanting to bring some happiness during the holidays,” Garabiles said. “Some donors might have put in a little extra and got them other things that would benefit the family.”

Helping Hands Hawaii invites families in need to apply for Adopt-A-Family through its partnering agencies, who identify struggling families to refer to the program. While the program usually solely serves families on Oahu, the Maui wildfires prompted them to open their program to those on Maui.

“We’ve had several donors before we made the announcement that were looking for Maui families,” Garabiles said. “A lot of them were very excited to hear that we’ve opened up applications for families who’ve been impacted.”

Of the 600 families to receive donations, 31 are victims of the Maui wildfires, Garabiles said. While the majority remain on Maui, some have relocated to Hawaii island and Oahu.

With many of the wildfire victims still going through transitional periods, donors who adopted them were asked to donate gift cards in lieu of physical items. Other families adopted under the program mostly asked for basic necessities such as food, toiletries or blankets.

The number of families adopted this year is significantly fewer than last year’s 374, which Garabiles speculates could be due to rising costs of living or a larger focus by donors to support wildfire victims through alternative programs.

Families began picking up their donations Saturday and will do so throughout the upcoming week, Garabiles said. Meanwhile, Maui families are scheduled to receive their donations Tuesday.

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BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR

The annual Good Neighbor Fund, a charitable partnership between Helping Hands Hawaii, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and First Hawaiian Bank, helps struggling individuals and families during the holiday season.

This year under the Adopt A Family Program, 600 families are seeking assistance with food, clothing, toys and household items. Donations to the Good Neighbor Fund also assist Helping Hands with operational costs for the nonprofit’s Community Clearinghouse Program, which helps people with basic necessities throughout the year, at 2100 N. Nimitz Highway.

The hours for Adopt A Family donations (new items) are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For general donations for the Community Clearinghouse (gently used items), drop-off is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

How to help

People can drop off cash or checks to the “Good Neighbor Fund” at any First Hawaiian Bank branch statewide until Dec. 30. To donate specifically to Chee, include the code: HHH-144.

Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.