Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

By Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin
Kirstian Okazaki, 7, helps on the first floor. Others painting
on the weekend included the Puuhale principal and
Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.

Volunteers
paint halls of
Puuhale School

A Kalihi company donates
the paint and community
members do the work

---

By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

Volunteers spent their weekend preparing a surprise for Puuhale Elementary School students, who are on intersession break.

Parents, faculty, staff and community members gave the school's drab olive-green hallways a bright white coat of paint.

"We can't wait to see their faces, especially the little ones," said Jayla Fernandez, parent of a fourth- and a sixth-grader.

Fernandez, who also serves as a volunteer reading and math coordinator, will be on hand to see their expressions next week.

America's Promise Hawaii, a program under Helping Hands Hawaii, brought volunteers and a nearby business together to help the Kalihi school. Painter's Warehouse Inc., a Kalihi company, donated and delivered all the paint.

"We're really thankful for America's Promise in bringing us all together," said Principal Cynthia Sunahara. "We planned for four days and finished in two days."

Although the walls were painted by lunchtime, a handful of volunteers were left scraping baseboards and cleaning carpets of white paint left by overzealous workers who raced through the painting.

Head custodian Robert Keliihoomalu said he couldn't grumble about volunteer help. He was just grateful that so many turned out to help on their day off. He said the new paint job is a big improvement over the walls, which had paint blotches that didn't exactly match.

Clara Olds said the painting "is not just a one-time effort, but it's to build relationships between community people and businesses."

And she's hoping that many in the community will invest time in the schools even when they don't have school-age children, such as Mary Macapagal.

Macapagal, an active volunteer, oversees students during lunch and recess and at school-related functions. She has one reason for helping. "That's why we come here -- to help the kids."

America's Promise Hawaii also obtains skilled labor for projects such as repairing fences.

Parents such as Julia Gututala, mother of two former Puuhale students and one current student, have an added benefit.

Gututala said if kids see their parents involved, they feel good about themselves.