RIF President and CEO Alicia Levi was on the road this fall, visiting RIF program sites across the county. In September, Alicia was on Oahu to learn about our program and to share RIF’s vision and plan for the next five years.

Alicia accompanied Board members Susan Fuller and Janis Rodden to Kamaile Academy to observe our version of RIF’s Books for Ownership program. They visited several classrooms where our volunteers were reading aloud to students, and experienced the excitement when it was time for each child to select a brand new book of their very own.

Alicia commented, “The RIF services you provide are hugely impactful to the students you serve and it was extremely rewarding and informative for me to be able to visit the schools with your dedicated group of volunteers. The model your team has put in place to run RIF programming is one that I will reflect on often as we work at RIF National to continue to provide support and resources for sites such as yours.”

A big mahalo to ‘Iwalani Hodges, librarian at Nanaikapono Elementary School, who is retiring at the end of this school year.

For 28 years, ‘Iwalani has served both as school librarian and as on-site coordinator for the RIF-Honolulu program. In addition to the usual coordinator duties for the RIF school visits and book distributions, which include scheduling and communicating with teachers, ‘Iwalani made sure that our volunteers knew that they were appreciated with a sumptuous repast at every visit.

The students at Nanaikapono will miss her, and so will the RIF volunteers who have come to know her over the years.

‘Iwalani, we appreciate all that you have done to support the RIF program and volunteers at Nanaikapono, and we wish you all the best as you begin this new chapter in life. 

Mahalo and Aloha from all of us at RIF-Honolulu!

For nearly 50 years, Reading Is Fundamental has been providing books and literacy resources to millions of kids across the country. For many of these children, their RIF books are their only books. When you donate to RIF-Honolulu, you help us reach children who need us most.

Make sure your beach bag is packed with all of the essentials: towels, sunscreen, and books! Reading Is Fundamental has book suggestions and free e-books so you can read in the sunshine all summer long! Visit http://bit.ly/rifsummer for books, activities and more for a perfect #RIFSUMMER!