Page 7 - MidWeek - Nov 30, 2022

NOVEMBER 30, 2022 MIDWEEK 7
Dennis Olkowski
Christmas is right around the cor- ner, and for Dennis Olkowski of Kailua that means it’s time
to shine a light on the Marines Toys for Tots program.
For over a decade, Dennis, who is semi-retired, and his wife, Charmen, a retired school teacher, have been collect- ing stuffed animals, games and gadgets for Toys for Tots, which then distributes them to underprivileged children and teens on Christmas.
Both Olkowskis grew up in working class families — she in Kalihi, he in De- troit — that sometimes struggled to make ends meet. They remember how much it meant to get even a single toy under the tree.
Every Saturday, Dennis scours garage sales for the good stuff — he makes sure his finds still have tags and original pack- aging — then Charmen inspects, bags and boxes them for donation. If the toys need batteries, the Olkowskis include those as well.
bigger Toys for Tots drop-off sites were no longer there due to the pandemic. He wanted to do his part to keep the program front of mind — so he called the Ma- rines and offered to do pro bono public relations work. That resulted in coverage from local newspapers and TV and radio stations.
“Because it’s a terrible thing to give a toy to a child on Christmas morning that requires batteries and then they can’t play with the car or the little piano or what have you,” Dennis says. “So, we gather up batteries from Costco and we make sure everything’s working.”
According to the Toys for Tots Hawai‘i website, the program collected nearly 45,000 toys for nearly 22,000 keiki last year.
This year, they’ve collected nearly 200 toys — everything from Star Wars, Spider-Man and Transformer figurines to die-cast cars, jewelry-making kits and board games like Scrabble and Pachisi — and about 300 books.
It actually wasn’t his first time ginning up publicity for the program, though.
Not only are they stretching their money to serve the community’s chil- dren — $50 at a garage sale buys three or four times what it would at a retailer — they’ve also forged friendships along the way.
One of his assignments was helping put together a section on the Kāne‘ohe Christmas parade, which was a big col- lection site for Toys for Tots. The section included information on how to donate toys along the route.
“For the past 15 years I’ve had a reg- ular route,” Dennis says. “People have gotten to know me along the route, and they’ll call me and say, ‘Hey, Dennis, we have toys. Can we give them to you?’ The people on the Windward side are very generous.”
But back then, he says, he had no idea Toys for Tots would come to play such a significant role in his life.
Last year, he noticed that many of the
—Karen Iwamoto
Back in the day, he was a writer for Custom Publishing, the media group that put together special sections for The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Toys for Tots is collecting new, un- wrapped toys through Dec. 22. For more information and to find a drop-off site, visit kaneohe-bay-hi.toysfortots.org.
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Photo courtesy Dennis Olkowski