What is RIF?
Reading Is Fundamental, Honolulu, Inc. (RIF-Honolulu) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves children in areas on Oahu.
RIF-Honolulu:
• Encourages a love of reading through book ownership.
• Provides 16,000 books a year to K-3 students in under-resourced communities on Oahu.
• Is staffed entirely by volunteers.
100% of all contributions to RIF-Honolulu are used exclusively for our Oahu children’s reading program.
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FEATURED STORY:
Kahalu’u Elementary’s Monkey Pod Tables and Benches
Many years ago, Uncle Eldean Kukahiko lived across the street from Kahalu’u Elementary School. He attended the school as a boy, and through the years his family stayed close to the school, and his grandchildren also attended.
Uncle Eldean was a pastor and kupuna at the school, befriending both students and teachers, as well as teaching ukulele. Several years ago a large monkey pod tree, planted in the 1960s on the campus, blew over during a storm. Uncle Eldean had an idea.
He got permission from the city to harvest the tree and use the wood. The school’s parent community helped him find a wood worker who sawed and milled the wood into planks. Uncle Eldean decided to teach his best friend, Peter Fields, how to turn the planks into tables and benches.
This was a lucky decision, because half-way through the project, Uncle Eldean passed away. The tables, benches, and poi boards were completed by Peter Fields at the Parks and Recreation area in Kahalu’u.
Now, two lovely long tables and four benches grace the Kahalu’u Elementary School Library with their beautiful shapes and rich grain.
The students sit at them every day, and the RIF volunteers especially like coming to Kahalu’u Elementary to sit at the tables, and to look over books and enjoy the delicious snacks provided by Ms. Kobashigawa and Mr. Nakaoka. Students in every grade pound poi on the beautiful monkey pod poi boards twice each year, led by Uncle Eldean’s wife, Aunty Darlene.
The Latest
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Read Across America
Tomorrow (March 2nd) is Read Across America Day! Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) hopes to unite readers … all across America … with a day dedicated to reading.
The day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss, so a perfect way to celebrate is to don a Seussian hat and read one his famous tales, like One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. On National Read Across America Day, students, teachers, parents, and community members around the nation come together to read books and celebrate the joy of reading — join us!
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Leihoku Welcomes RIF
Leihoku Elementary went above and beyond to welcome RIF volunteers to their school the other week! In addition to the incredible screen and signs, classes presented them with lei, thank you notes, and cookies.
The 5th grade student volunteers above meet weekly to plan and work on things, such as RIF visitations. Mahalo to all!
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We’re back in person!
After not being able to visit our schools during the pandemic, we have finally resumed our book distributions in person instead of dropping off books three times a year. We added a new school, Fern Elementary, so they’re new to our program, but if any third graders at our other schools recall RIF reading to them in classrooms and giving them books, they would have been kindergarteners at the time. It’s so nice to be able to see children’s faces again as they actively participate in our visits and select their free books at the end of the session.
Fern Elementary volunteers with student helpers; Kalihi Elementary; Nanaikapono Elementary
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Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Donation
On a beautiful sunny day recently, these ladies of the Lambda Chi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority presented RIF with a generous $500 donation at the Hoakalei Country Club in Ewa Beach. One of their members is a teacher at Kamaile Elementary, a school that RIF Honolulu serves. Some other members who are retired might be interested in volunteering with RIF.
Fun tidbit: The Lambda Chi Omega Chapter was chartered on March 24, 1978 in Honolulu, the same year RIF Honolulu was founded!L to R: Latitia Byrant (AKA/LCO former president), LaTonya Conkleton (AKA/LCO vice-president), Susan Fuller (RIF Honolulu president),
Faye Haraguchi (RIF Honolulu web admin), Tabidrik Reed (AKA/LCO recording secretary)