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The Halau at Hale Halawai ‘Ohana O Hanalei during one of our keiki programs.

Aloha ‘Ohana!

Welcome to our third quarterly newsletter for 2022!

The October rain is finally here and we’re grateful for the blessing of life and cleansing that the water brings to our 'āina and kaiāulu. Let’s dive straight into the updates and news from third quarter!

Our keiki on “skate day” during Q1 of KAEP. Photo by Paige Guglielmana.

Keiki Programs

The keiki are back to school after a lovely summer and fall break. So far, the new school year is off to a strong start and we are delighted to welcome several new keiki to our afterschool program. We will continue to provide fun activities and surprises, including gardening, surfing, art & drama and learning how to write code with Minecraft! Other highlights include:

• In August, the keiki went the extra mile on our beach day walk to the pier to fish with Uncle Jason Schaper. Jason provided fishing gear and poles, nets, and buckets to give the keiki the opportunity to have the summertime experience of fishing at the pier.

• In September, the keiki had a “skate day” where keiki were encouraged to bring skateboards, roller skates, scooters, and bikes. They set up a pop up tent at the basketball court and skated all day. Everyone had something to ride and they all had a blast!

• In October, the North Shore Shuttle provided bus transportation to have a beach swim day at Kē’ē beach. Mahalo North Shore Shuttle!

“Kalo” (taro), was the theme of our Fall break camp. Keiki learned about all aspects of kalo, they went on a field trip to Kē’ē where they worked in the lo’i and harvested kalo, then made poi and lau lau. Throughout the camp, they had art projects such as painting, clay sculpting, Hawaiiana with Aunty Omi (Kumu Naomi Yokotake) and played makahiki games.

BBBS Presentation at Hale Halawai.

On September 29th, Hale Halawai hosted a presentation by Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), an inspiring organization that provides mentors for keiki ages 6-16, who have faced adversity throughout their lives. We are building a partnership with BBBS to pair keiki in our programs with trusted mentors on the island at no cost. A Big Brothers or a Big Sisters will meet with kids at least twice a month, one-on-one and provide them with additional support.

Do you want to become a mentor or find one for your keiki? If so, click:

You’re invited on Wednesday October 19 to Hale Halawai’s Keiki Program Open House “Light On Afterschool”.

This month, Hawai’i Afterschool Alliance will host the 2022 edition of their annual event “Lights on Afterschool.” Since Hale Halawai is part of their ‘ohana of afterschool programs, we decided to host our own local version of the event. You’re all invited to join us on October 19th from 5-7pm for a fun “open house” at Hale Halawai to celebrate and learn more about our programs. There will be delicious pupus made by the community, weather permitting we will make s’mores around the bonfire as well as learn how to make traditional Hawaiian kukui nut candles and paper Jack-’o-lanterns! We will share stories and a slideshow about our programs. Arts and crafts will be on display showcasing the skill and creativity keiki have developed during the program. Please share the poster below with your family and friends to spread the word!

To streamline registration and billing, Hale Halawai shifted to open enrollment so families can enroll their keiki in our program at any time! Our billing system now is billed monthly with a flat daily rate. Scholarships are still available for families in need through our new financial aid application (included in our keiki registration form below). We hope to see you and your keiki afterschool!

Would you like to donate to our keiki programs to help us provide scholarships to families in need? If so, please donate via the button below or mail a check to Hale Halawai ‘Ohana O Hanalei, PO Box 822, Hanalei, HI 96714.

Hanalei Farmers’ Market Fundraising Booth. Photo by Dave Guerrero.

Join Hanalei Farmers’ Market

This year, USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack proclaimed August 7th-13th as National Farmers’ Market Week, celebrating the direct-to-consumer producers, market managers, staff and customers.

Hale Halawai’s Farmers’ Market is bustling and we’re thrilled to see our amazing community emerge from the pandemic and thrive. We’re proud to announce many of our old vendors are back and many new vendors joined our ‘ohana! If you are a local farmer, cook, artist or artisan and wish to share your fresh produce, delicious meals or beautiful art and craft with the community, apply to become one of our market’s vendors via the form below:

Become part of our Market ‘Ohana!

We’d like to remind everybody that our market vendors accept SNAP/P-EBT benefits and that Mary Susan Stults hosts yoga classes at Hale Halawai every Saturday during the market. You can pre-register via the button below or join her from 10-11:30 every Saturday for a sweet, aligning and reinvigorating yoga class for all levels. Bring bags or a basket if you want to take advantage of our market and support our local farmers and vendors.

Mountains and rainbow by our taro field. Photo by Paige guglielmana.

Flood Mitigation Work

As the rains return, so does the possibility of natural disasters. Hale Halawai continues to build the framework to administer the north shore flood mitigation sub-grants.

We completed the first round of data collection with our survey. Many community members and organizations shared their experiences and information. The survey results are available on our webpage.

A big mahalo to Waipa for allowing us to have a booth at their Mango Festival. We talked to the community about all things flood and received a lot of helpful information. For up-to-date flood mitigation project information, please visit our website by clicking on the button below:

New floors at Hale Halawai. Photos by Kaylee Kim and Mary Susan Stults.

New rooms & events

As many of you know, our floors were over 25+ years old and in dire need of renovation. We received a grant from the Atherton Foundation to purchase flooring materials and Shioi Construction donated installation labor to complete the first round of renovations in September. Numerous volunteers and our team gutted the buildings, made dump runs, removed the old carpet and cleaned the space to prepare for the installation. The new floors are gorgeous and allow for our facility to better provide dance, gymnastics, exercise classes and more. Mahalo Shioi Construction and Atherton Foundation!

Photo of the mahalo cards from our keiki to Shioi Constructions for the new floors! Photo by Paige Guglielmana.

During the renovation, we accomplished our goal of clearing the original office space and converting it into a space for community use. The new Hale Pohai Aloha Mauka room is equipped with access to shared restrooms, projector screen, chairs, tables and is a perfect location to host meetings and classes. It has a retractable divider that separates it from the Makai room. Would you like to donate to help us continue our renovations? If so, please click:

Yoga Class with Mary.

Recently, Mary Susan started offering a donation-based Yoga class on Wednesday mornings from 10-11:15am, on top of the Saturday class at the farmers market. She’s also working on more classes, for adults and keiki: find out more about that and Mary’s inspiring story in the Team section below. If you’re interested in joining any of her classes, please fill out the survey by clicking on this button:

Chad Deal is offering Martial Art classes on Tuesdays and Fridays at Hale Halawai from 6:00-7:00pm. As always, visitors and members of the community are welcome to host events, classes or other activities at Hale Halawai. You can check out and book our spaces on our facility reservation platform below. We offer a 10% kama’aina discount for local weddings and anniversaries, which can be redeemed by uploading your Hawai’i ID at check out. Spread the word with your friends and families and come celebrate your special day at Hale Halawai!

Yoga instructor and keiki program assistant Mary Susan Stults.

Our Team

We are proud to have Mary Susan Stults as part of our team. She is an inspiring human being and a top-notch professional yoga instructor for all levels and ages! Mary has been our keiki program assistant and our in-house yoga instructor for almost two years now. As mentioned above, Mary is now hosting two different yoga classes on Wednesdays from 10-11:15am and Saturdays during the Farmers’ Market from 10-11:30am. At Hale Halawai we want to make sure everyone in our community knows that they are loved and supported and that any time you feel stressed and low in energy, you can always pop in at our market or mid-week and recharge with a powerful yoga flow. Mary is the founder of Of the Earth Yoga and Flow & Float SUP Yoga, as well as many other satellite projects including Adventure Yoga for Children, Yoga Retreats all over the world including the US, Mexico and Spain and more! Check out her website below to learn more about her inspiring work and book your next private yoga class or retreat!

Paige Guglielmana at her art booth at Hanalei Farmers’ Market. Photo by Kaylee Kim.

Did you know that Paige, the heart of our keiki program, is also a really talented artist?! She just joined our Farmers’ Market as a vendor and is selling her incredible work! This is a big step for her as a solo artist. Please stop by or visit her Etsy page below to check out her paintings of local flora and fauna and show her your support!

Finally, this quarter, Hale Halawai joined Twitter, with brand new content and announcements available to our community! Go check it out and hit the follow button to make sure you’re always up to date with all our projects and news.

Call for volunteers

We’re looking for volunteers to help with our market, keiki programs, events and general operations. Do you have knowledge or a skill to share with our keiki? Help us shape the next generation! Art, music, storytelling, tutoring, language, sports, reading, etc. Become a volunteer today!

If you are a frequent Amazon shopper, support Hale Halawai with Amazon Smile! It doesn’t cost anything extra - Amazon will donate a percentage of its profits. If you haven’t set Hale Halawai in your Amazon app or web browser yet, click the button below and search for Hale Halawai ‘Ohana O Hanalei in their database, select it and you’re all set! Now every time you want to shop online remember to go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com. This will be automatic if you shop from the Amazon app.

Our keiki behind the Give Aloha sign on the porch of Uncle Jacks’s Place. Photo by Paige Guglielmana.

Lastly, we wish to thank all of you for donating to Hale Halawai through the Give Aloha 2022 program at Foodland. It’s heartwarming to see how many of you out there care for our community center and support us. We are honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve this incredible community! Mahalo for staying in tune and keep an eye out for our next newsletter in January!

Mahalo & See you all in January 2023!