Project Hawai‘i issues urgent plea for help to bring Christmas cheer to homeless keiki

Project Hawai‘i has more than 2,400 children from the Big Island, Maui and O‘ahu on its Christmas list this year.

That record breaking number, unfortunately, coincides with record low donations, and the nonprofit dedicated to uplifting homeless keiki on all three islands is pleading with the community to step up and help.

“I know everyone is being hit hard, [but] if you can give, please consider our keiki,” wrote creator and co-founder of Project Hawai‘i Magin Patrick in an email asking for the community’s assistance. “The magic of Christmas is far beyond the gift you donate — or the meal you provide. To a child living in extreme poverty and homelessness, it is their self-reflection, their self-worth.”

It hasn’t just been proven through the decades, it is also the one reason Project Hawai‘i’s Christmas Wish Program was created.

“When a child is forgotten and left out, they take that very personal,” Patrick wrote. “They feel less than, as if they don’t deserve ‘it.’ That ‘it’ follows them into the future, when they miss out on other activities, school opportunities or life-changing experiences most children take for granted.”

Christmas is the most important time of the year that helps develop a child’s self worth.

By donating, community members are not just giving toys or dinners, they are giving:

• Belonging to a child who feels invisible.
• Self-esteem to a teen who rarely receives anything new.
• Stability to families with nothing.
• Joy into hearts where joy is scarce.
• Memories that remind them they matter.

“Christmas may be one day — but the impact lasts months, even years,” Patrick wrote. “Be the one who says ‘I care.’”

Time is running out, and this is the slowest giving year the nonprofit has had in more than a decade.

The window to provide Christmas for more than 800 of the keiki — one-third of the children the nonprofit serves — is closing fast.

“To be fully transparent — if we don’t close this gap in the next few days, we will have to cut back on gifts, stockings, meals and party activities,” Patrick wrote. “We have never had to turn a child away. And we don’t want this year to be the first.”

She and her organization are asking the community to help them finish strong and provide Christmas cheer to all of the keiki they help.

Hunger also can’t wait.

Community members can feed a homeless child this Christmas for just $7 or an entire family for $35.

Hunger is a daily reality for the homeless keiki Project Hawai‘i serves — grumbling stomachs, skipped meals and the kind of exhaustion only a child who hasn’t eaten enough truly understands.

You can change that this Christmas; no child should go to sleep hungry — especially during the holidays.

They aren’t just plates of food you’d be giving … they are relief, comfort and the feeling of someone caring for them.

These gift also fill more than a stomach — they fill a child’s heart with warmth, hope and reassurance that they matter.

Click here to donate Christmas cheer for homeless keiki. Click here to help fill Santa’s sleigh with Christmas wishes for homeless keiki.

Click here to provide Christmas dinner for keiki and families in need.

“Your donation today saves Christmas for a child,” Patrick wrote.

Learn more about Project Hawai‘i and all of its programs by visiting the nonprofit’s website.