Baking buddies

Ho‘ala School's annual Cookie Bake fundraiser brings family and friends together

Families come in different forms. For some, family means a nuclear one -- mom, dad, two kids, with ground rules laid out by the parents. For others, family takes on an extended form, with a matching philosophy: Everyone in a community is seen as having an ability to guide the children and shape their futures in a positive way.

Parents of Ho'ala School students believe in the second form of family, and members of the school community take part every year in the Cookie Bake, the school's largest fundraiser.

Now in its 18th year, the Cookie Bake saw 150 faculty members, parents, students and alumni come together Nov. 4 to make 4,860 dozen cookies. The first year of the fundraiser, way back when, volunteers sold pizzas. The second year, it was chicken. The third year -- and ever since then -- it's been all about cookies, specifically shortbread.

Picture 450 pounds of sugar, 1,500 pounds of flour, 1,250 pounds of butter, 2 gallons of vanilla -- and then picture relative calm, as 150 volunteers work peacefully in kitchen and prep areas, accompanied by the sounds of an oldies station and the easy chatter of people who have already spent many hours together.

Preparation begins the night before, when a handful of volunteers gathers to unwrap sticks of butter. By the time the event is wrapped up -- the last bag of cookies usually sells by the end of the month -- more than $20,000 will have been raised. Between $20,000 and $25,000 is collected each year through the fundraiser.

"As an employee, we're thrilled to be raising money for the school," said the school's office manager, Darlene Dela Cruz. "As for families, we're coming together on that one day."

IF LES NAKAGAWA had his way, he would have arrived at the Cookie Bake at his usual time -- 4 a.m., starting time for the head baker. But, Les said sheepishly, a broken toe got in the way this year. He wasn't even supposed to be working the event this year because of the fracture -- doctor's orders.

But he is.

Every year, he and son Brian, 18, pitch in for Cookie Bake, a tradition since the younger Nakagawa joined Ho'ala as a shy sixth-grader. "There's just such good karma at the event," Les said. "You're putting your hands in cookie dough, and talking and laughing at the same time."

Though Brian graduated in May and is majoring in forensic science at Chaminade University, father and son have vowed to come back every year together.

"This Cookie Bake is just one way to give back to a school that has given so much," Les said. "There's a desire within myself and my family to support Ho'ala."

Said Brian, now a well-spoken, sincere college freshman, "We've mutually agreed to come back. I can't visit that much this year because of school, so I definitely wanted to be here. I come for the atmosphere."

Both Nakagawas have the same work ethic: In previous years they'd arrive at 4 a.m. together. A few times, they have worked the entire stint, until the last cookie was wrapped, just to see if they could.

"We were determined to stay there until the end -- it's usually about 5 or 6 p.m. But one time it was 7 p.m.," said the elder Nakagawa, with a good-natured groan at the memory. "We just laughed in exhaustion."

He added that he has friends and family on "standby," ready to place orders each year.

The Nakagawas are integral members of the Cookie Bake, a steady presence manning the ovens, though Les has little desire to have his own involvement acknowledged.

"A lot of alumni are involved," Les said. "You see people who have participated for 10 to 15 years. Every year, the production is a little bigger."

Like Nakagawa, Marina Whyte's oldest child, Tanner, 14, now attends school elsewhere. But Whyte returned this year, with Tanner and daughter Moona, 12, in tow, for her 10th Cookie Bake. Her son, now a student at Mid-Pacific Institute, has been joining her since he turned 8.

"This is a good time to see everybody I was close to," said Marina, a Toyko-born translator who sends six bags of cookies to Japan each year. "You could stop by on a regular day, but during the Cookie Bake, everyone is in the mood for talking. You can hear about their lives and meet everyone at once. You'll be baking and bagging, and you just keep talking."

Alongside the workers who turn out for each Cookie Bake are parents with children new to the school. "People and faces constantly change but the spirit stays the same," Les said.

Several volunteers said they were thinking of the school's founder, sister Joan Madden, who died Oct. 31. "It's been a little tough this year with her passing," Les said. "She would be always be checking on us and helping us out." Said another volunteer, Susan Chikazawa, "This is her vision coming together. We're committing to her ideas."

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To order cookies, call Ho'ala School at 621-1898. Three flavors are available -- plain, chocolate chip and cinnamon -- at $6 for a bag of a dozen cookies.