Laulima Day
Laulima is Hawaiian for “many hands” working together. Each of us has something to offer and our differences make us stronger as a community. The practice of Laulima is essential to develop, strengthen and support communities and strong communities mean strong families.
Laulima reminds us that universal values are timeless.
Once a year we celebrate the spirit of Laulima with joined action to give back to the community. On the first Saturday in December, we receive donations of a new, unwrapped toy, household item, sporting goods item, or retail gift cards locally to support struggling keiki, kupuna, and ‘ohana across Hawai’i. One hundred percent of the collected donations go directly to the people we serve.
Our Laulima Day is the perfect opportunity to teach our keiki the values of Laulima. We invite you to spread the spirit of Laulima and create your own Laulima Day at your school. Parents, you can use this as an opportunity to have your keiki earn money by doing things around the house, then use the money they earned to buy their donation, helping them understand the value of money and the selflessness of giving.
During the Christmas Season, each school can select their own “Laulima Day,” and celebrate it with music and dance while still remembering those who have little or nothing. Each class can contribute something to the event.
- It can be a performance or a song.
- It can be self-made decoration for this special day.
- It can be creating an ornament together with their parents or grandparents to decorate the Laulima Giving Tree.
The Laulima Giving Tree is an important element of Laulima Day at each school. It symbolizes the many hands working together through selecting a Laulima ornament from the tree. Each ornament stands for a child in need. A student picks up an ornament and is asked to donate one item like a new unwrapped toy, personal hygiene item, sports equipment or another age-appropriate donation.
All gifts will be collected from under the tree and then delivered to a deserving student to sweeten the season for each receiver.
The students celebrate the season by sharing with those who have less than they do.
Kathy Muneno, from our media partner KHON2, will bring a video technician to document the event, interview teachers and students, and then broadcast the video, creating a remarkable, feel-good news story for the local viewers.
If you have any further questions or would love to sign up …
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As a non-profit, Laulima depends solely upon the kind and generous donations from the local business communities. It receives no other type of funding.
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