Shop and Score
By Purchasing Kraft Products At Times Through Oct. 21, You Can Help The High School Of Your Choice Win Thousands Of Dollars In New Uniforms And Other Athletic Gear. One need look no further than the Parade of Champions through Waikiki on Labor Day to understand not just the strength of local sports but its importance in the community. Sports heroes from past and present marched down Kalakaua
By Chad Pata
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One need look no further than the Parade of Champions through Waikiki on Labor Day to understand not just the strength of local sports but its importance in the community. Sports heroes from past and present marched down Kalakaua Avenue, passing a statue of Duke Kahanamoku, our greatest sports figure, and giving us an afternoon to relish what they had accomplished in our name.
Every little kid who watched the Waipio comeback in the U.S. championship game could picture themselves playing the role of Tanner Tokunaga, banging the game-winning hit in that improbable sixth inning.
Not many got to watch Natasha Kai’s soccer Olympic heroics live, but her header in extra time against Canada propelled the U.S. into the medal round and Kai into Hawaiian sports lore forever.
Then there is Bryan Clay, Olympic gold medalist, the greatest athlete in the world.
Yet as much as we relish our athletes, their chance to compete seems to be more and more in jeopardy. As the wallets get thinner in these trying times, youth athletics could be one of the first to go, as evidenced by the recent attempt to eliminate junior varsity sports from our public schools.
It took testimony from the likes of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and UH head football coach Greg McMackin to force a midnight vote by the Board of Education to stave off their elimination.
“JV sports is so important as a stepping stone for kids in the ninth grade,” says Stacie Nii, athletic director for Waipahu High school. “It would be dangerous to move those kids straight into varsity. Their bodies are not ready.”
It is for this very reason that Kraft and Times Super Markets are proud to kick off the eighth annual Shop and Score program. Starting this Wednesday, shoppers at all Times stores can help their local high school by purchasing the Kraft products they already would be buying. Customers just have to designate which school they want to help, and their favorite high school will get its share of the $100,000 in free athletic equipment the program is providing in cooperation with Adidas.
Each store will have a display listing which items you can purchase to earn points in the program, and you have the freedom to choose to give your points to any of the participating schools. The program runs from Sept. 10 to Oct. 21, and whatever percentage of the total points your school has it will receive in increments of thousands of dollars.
Last year Castle won with 17 percent of the total points accumulated - that translates to $17,000 for its athletic program. While some smaller schools may not having the purchasing power to compete at Castle’s level, each participating school is guaranteed a minimum of $500 to use toward uniforms and equipment.
“According to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, Hawaii has the distinction of having the most high school championship sports in the country,” says Gerald Shintaku, business manager of Kraft Foods Hawaii. “As a result, there continues to be a lot of interest within the community in a broad range of high school sports, from football and volleyball to baseball, soccer and more. The Hawaii community believes in our kids and the role athletics plays in contributing to healthy adults.
“Because of that, members of the community are willing to pitch in and help to raise much-needed funds for high school athletics through the Shop and Score program.”
The schools have really gotten into the program, using it to motivate their students and parents to do their part to help out the athletic departments.
“Now, with the Shop and Score program, I get my kids to get out there and drum up support,” says Kalani High athletic director Gregory Van Cantfort. “The parents do what they do ordinarily anyway. I get that (program) credit and now I can put that money toward something that would benefit all the sports, not just a particular team, and that is really the ripple effect.”
Last year Kalani received $7,000, but Van Cantfort is raising the bar, wanting to push that number to $10,000 this year.
Van Cantfort draws from his experiences as a soccer coach to explain how important this program is to the school’s entire athletic department. In order to outfit the four soccer teams at Kalani it would cost the department $6,000. The school only receives $24,000 a year from the state for supplies and equipment for all sports.
Uniforms can eat an entire athletic budget, but if Van Cantfort can motivate his parents to get out and shop, it frees the budget to help out in other areas.
“By getting these uniforms at basically no cost I can earmark that money for other things such as transportation cost,” says Van Cantfort, who has taught at Kalani for the past 20 years and served as AD for the past five. “Players who have advanced to state tournaments on outer islands, we are now able to send those kids and cover their airfare that we normally couldn’t do.”
During the program’s eight-year run, it has raised more than $500,000 for the 46 participating schools. Last year’s winner Castle was followed by Aiea, Waipahu, Kalani and McKinley.
“It has helped all our programs,” says Nii, who has been AD at Waipahu since ‘06. “It is hard to run 52 different teams with just the money we get from the state. Before, the kids on our volleyball teams had to buy their own uniforms, but now we can provide them.”
For McKinley AD Bob Morijuni, it also serves as a way for the community at large to become vested in their high school athletics. “Our community has been awesome in supporting us and it really helps out,” says Morijuni. “With the budget restrictions that have been going on in the news, it’s been another way that our community has been able to help us out.”
While the importance of sports cannot be denied, from the disconnect of our youths from one another in an increasingly online world to the epidemic of obesity threatening our nation’s children with diabetes and heart disease, it is important to recognize those who achieve on the academic side as well.
This is where American Savings Bank puts in its contribution to the Shop and Score program. It is awarding $25,000 in scholarships to outstanding students from participating high schools. While there is no connection between what one buys and who gets the scholarships, one can still earn points for his or her school, 500 points in fact, by opening a savings account with ASB during the program.
To receive the scholarships, students can apply through the Hawaii Community Foundation starting in February 2009.
So the race begins Wednesday to see if any school can knock off Castle, and while the competition should prove to be fierce, at the end it is all about providing our youth with a better future.
“I think the main thing is sports gives kids an avenue to do something positive with their life,” says Van Cantfort. “There are so many negative things out there that they can get themselves involved in. Sports gives them a sense of belonging and pride in their school.”
One never knows who is going to be the next Tokunaga, Kai or Clay, but by participating in the Shop and Score program, when that next sports hero emerges, you can know you did your part.
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