‘Dear Santa’ Campaign Doubles Total Letters

Submitted by Circle K International at HPU Executive Board  

With the holiday season in full swing, Circle K International at Hawai‘i Pacific University (Circle K HPU), a Registered Student Organization (RSO), hosted its signature annual letter writing campaign during November and December. An initial goal of 6,000 letters was set, and Circle K HPU has collected 13,141 letters with more on the way. This annual campaign aims to help raise money for Make-A-Wish Hawaii, and for every letter, Macy’s will donate $1.

The 4^th Annual Campaign was led by event chairs Nohealani Benicarlo ’18 and Geraldine Ilan ’21, with the support of the Executive Board including Josh Koh ’18, Nicole Masulit ’21, and Christopher Bartolome ’21. Many of the letters were written by the HPU ‘ohana and friends in the community.

On December 8, Circle K HPU joined Make-A-Wish Hawaii at the Ala Moana Shopping Center Macy’s to present 13,141 letters written by the ‘ohana at HPU. It was also National Believe Day, which meant Macy’s doubled the donation to $2 per letter written. A total of $26,282 will be donated to Make-A-Wish Hawaii and will stay here in Hawaii.

Started in 2014 by HPU alumnus and former Circle K HPU President, Avery Fukeda ’15, the annual campaign at HPU has collected over 23,691 letters, raising approximately $47,382 for Make-A-Wish Hawaii.  Over the past 14 years, Circle K at HPU — one of the longest running special interest RSOs — has recorded a total of more than 11,000 hours of service in 600 projects with help from over 300 members. This campaign is by far Circle K HPU’s largest and longest running service project in the club’s 14-year history.  

For the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, Circle K HPU will celebrate its 15th year at Hawai‘i Pacific University. In conjunction with this anniversary, it will host the 5th Annual Believe Letter campaign, which will be chaired by Geraldine Ilan ’21, soon-to- be alumna Nohealani Benicarlo ’18, and alumnus Avery Fukeda ’15, as Honorary Chair. The goal has yet to be set, but it will definitely help power many more wishes.

For the past 35 years, Make-A-Wish Hawaii has granted over 1,200 wishes for the keiki in Hawaii and has welcomed over 10,000 wish kids who wished to come to Hawaii. The mission of the organization is to grant the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience through hope, strength and joy. At HPU, contact circlek.hpu@my.hpu.edu for more information on how to get involved in making a difference in our community one project at a time.