Credit Union Responds To Teachers’ Wish Lists With $19,948

A little bit of help can go a long way in the classroom. Hawaii State Federal Credit Union knows that, which is why it donated $19,948.28 to 45 public schoolteachers in 2014 — including nine in Windward Oahu.

The Investing in Education grants address individual requests from teachers who submit essays explaining how the money will be used in their classrooms.

“It seems like every teacher out there is always spending their own money for supplies, and they need help on this,” explained Karen Ho of HSFCU.

“It was a way we could touch as many people as possible and help them out.

“We normally give out from $200 to $500 per request, and we look to see if it’s something that we feel is really going to help in educating the students,” Ho said.

“There are so many things out there that we didn’t realize.”

Enchanted Lake Elementary School’s Marie Kira, for example, will use her funds to purchase a reading table, books and storage baskets for her first-graders, in order to help them meet Common Core standards.

Other Windward Oahu recipients include Yvette Spain and Lara Higashi of Enchanted Lake Elementary, Susan Burch of Kaneohe Elementary, Jennifer Joaquin of King Intermediate, Lynne Johnson and Audra Uitto of Kaneohe Elementary, Puanani Kama of Pu‘ohala Elementary and Neal Manutai of Kahuku High & Intermediate.

Ho noted that all 45 of this year’s grant recipients are first-time awardees, and that interested applicants for the 2015 cycle (which opens Aug. 1) should submit their request as early as possible.

For more information, call Ho at 447-8084.