KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Supervisor Irene Nunes and volunteer Georgette Cruz sorted clothes Sunday at the Community Clearinghouse at 2100 N. Nimitz Highway. More people have been seeking aid since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the Star-Bulletin's Good Neighbor Fund is helping the clearinghouse with its goal.

Good Neighbor
Fund gives holiday
helping hand to needy

The clearinghouse gets
up to 100 calls per day for
help with basic necessities

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By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com

Shyla Akiona needs more clothing this Christmas.

Last Christmas, the Community Clearinghouse collected about $150 in donations for the 11-year-old who has cerebral palsy, and her foster mother bought her some new outfits. It brought a smile to Shyla, who "can't talk, only smile," says foster mother Jaine La Cuesta. "She's always smiling."

But Shyla, who uses a wheelchair, could use more clothes because she's always in need of a change.

"She gets dirty crawling all over the floor" as exercise, and she often spills food and drink onto her clothing, La Cuesta said.

Shyla is but one of the hundreds of people the clearinghouse aims to help throughout the year, not only during the holidays.

Because of the economic slowdown since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Community Clearinghouse is getting up to 100 calls per day for help.

The need for basic necessities is almost double what it used to before the tragedy, says Renee Ortogero, senior program manager of Helping Hands Hawaii, parent company of the clearinghouse.

"We used to get 50 or 60 calls; now we get close to 100 calls a day, with a low of 80 per day," she said.

But even with the continued slow economy, she is still "amazed at the generous, giving spirit that Hawaii can extend" to the needy.

Helping Hands is anticipating a surge of donations next month when people are on Christmas vacation and have time to clear out their closets, she added.

Today marks the start of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin's annual Good Neighbor Fund to aid the clearinghouse in gathering donated goods and funds from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Ortogero said people referred by social service agencies now have to wait three weeks before they can shop at the clearinghouse for free. Once people shop at the site, they can come back 30 days later. That's so they don't deplete the supply of items, she said.

The items most in demand are basic household necessities like beds -- the most often requested -- dishes, eating utensils, pots and pans, bed linens and towels, she said.

"I'm amazed that people are still sleeping on the floor," Ortogero said.

She said most of the demand seems to be from "people in transition," who have acquired their own homes through government assistance or because someone found a job.

All the items at the clearinghouse are free, but people are limited to only one large item, be it furniture or an appliance, she said.

Those who need the clearinghouse to pick up large donated items from their homes can call 536-7234. Items may be dropped off Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the warehouse at 2100 N. Nimitz Highway, with the entrance via Puuhale Place.

Checks should be made out to the Star-Bulletin Good Neighbor Fund, c/o Helping Hands Hawaii, P.O. Box 17780, Honolulu 96817.