It's Slippah Time

"It's dat time of year again!" Yes, as Lynn "Auntie Pupule" Vasquez reminds us, the holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes the third annual Mayor Wright Housing Christmas Slippah Wish Fund.

Even though it's not uncommon to go barefoot in Hawaii, kids in public housing shouldn't have to. So "Auntie Pupule" and her webmaster Blaine Fergerstrom have coordinated a grassroots campaign to donate footwear. The 2005 drive earned front-page coverage in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and last year's party was a blast. "Auntie Pupule" hopes that this year's campaign is similarly successful, and she has eyes on expanding the program to other public housing complexes.

"Hopefully, next year, we can include Kuhio Park Terrace and den the next year Kamehameha IV Road and so forth until all the keikis from public housing going have rubbah slippahs foa Christmas," she writes. "It might be rubber slippers (to us) but it's GOLD SLIPPERS to them!"