Pukalani Superette donates school supplies in 6th annual event

For a sixth year, Pukalani Superette has completed a school supply donation to Pukalani Elementary School’s entire fourth grade class. This means that the first class that received a donation is now starting high school.

Megan Nakashima, President of Pukalani Superette said, “We wanted a way provide support to as many families as we could on a consistent basis. We couldn’t have done any of this without the support of past and present members of the school’s administration and without our long term project partners – Maui Chemical & Paper Products and Office Max Kahului. We are even more moved and motivated to continue this project with the addition of Maui Optix’s donation this year.”

This year is extra special as Maui Optix has joined the project and donated school supplies to Pukalani Elementary School’s entire Kindergarten class.

“The eye doctors and staff at Maui Optix enjoy looking for ways to give back to the community especially when it comes to education,” according to a statement from the business. “We have been awarding high school scholarships for over 10 years and have a great internship program for high school and college students. We were inspired by Pukalani Superette’s supplying Pukalani Elementary school’s fourth graders with all their school supplies. We asked them if we can join in and chose to donate school supplies for the entire kindergarten class to help get them off to the right start and support their education and growth.”

General Manager at Office Max Kahului, Michael Mochizuki, and his team play an important role months before the school supplies appear on campus. They are tasked with sourcing most of the supplies. When asked if he could comment on the project, Mochizuki said, “Pukalani Superette has always been here supporting our Maui community.  This year is no different with their annual school supply donation to Pukalani Elementary School.  They really do care about the Maui community, their employees, vendors and customers.  This is evident by all they do.  Thanks Puk Sup for taking care of our Maui community,” he said.

School supplies for kindergarten and fourth grade students were delivered via Iron Horse Trucking on July 23, 2024 to the Pukalani Elementary School cafeteria.  Members from the Pukalani Elementary School staff, the Kekaulike High School Foundation, Alpha Delta Kappa (including many retired Pukalani Elementary school teachers), Maui Optix, and Pukalani Superette gathered to assemble more than 160 total bags for both grades combined.