Flourishing in 2025
Can you support us?
Aloha mai kākou,
It’s been a year of tender growth at Māla‘ai. Our community near and far has gently nurtured new beginnings that were hopeful visions at this time last year. We have seen changes in the Culinary Garden that opened opportunities for new growth in our program at Waimea Middle School. We are digging deep to revitalize the support provided to our educators through the Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network. We have strengthened our organizational capacity. We have learned so much this year.
E lawe i ke a‘o a mālama, a e ‘oi mau ka na‘auao. Take your teachings and apply them to increase your knowledge. ~Mary Kawena Pukui, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau No. 328
Now is the time to apply all that we have learned. Mālaʻai is proud to be 25% grassroots-funded, meaning that 25% of our income comes from our grassroots community supporters. We are ready to tend to the flourishing of youth, educators, and school gardens across Hawai‘i Island. Will you join us?
Our goal is to raise $20,000 this month and we humbly invite you to contribute to our cause. Every donation matters and will be put to good use as we do all we can to help Hawaiʻi Island school gardens flourish in the coming year.
Program Updates
Graduating 8th Graders in the spring of 2024, Class of 2028
Harvesting kalo with Kumu Lanakila and new 6th grade students
Māla‘ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
We're celebrating another successful year at our Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School, marked by an overwhelming interest in all of our programs, empowered keiki, and engaged educators.
By the end of the 2023-2024 school year, over 250 students, including 50+ preschoolers, had utilized the Māla‘ai Culinary Garden. Eighty-nine percent of our WMS students expressed joy in caring for our garden, from which we harvested over 1,000 pounds of food! A WMS 8th grade student shared, "My favorite thing about the garden is that I get to care for the ‘āina."
Summer was full of fun! Two wonderful alumni students joined us as interns for a vibrant summer of gardening, we partnered with University of Hawaii’s CTAHR (College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources) to co-host Camp Kaukau, and joined the Summer Tech Camp at WMS with Utah State.
As the 2024-2025 school year began, our sixth graders welcomed Lanakila Mangauil to learn the story of Hāloa. So far this year, all 191 Waimea Middle School students participated in ʻāina-based education in the garden. Our educators collaborated with teachers from science, physical education (PE), health, social studies, writing/literacy classes, as well as other educators/teachers on a project-basis, to make the garden an accessible and enriching resource for the entire school.
The Culinary Garden continues to serve as a model school garden, serving keiki, families, and educators through our classes and programming.
Every generous gift will help our garden and education efforts flourish in 2025.
Fun at a School Garden Workday!
You can read more about all our programs on The Scoops Blog
Partnering with The Kohala Center for a seed workshop.
The Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network
The Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network (HISGN), adopted by Māla‘ai in 2019, offers professional development, advocacy, mentorship, and technical assistance to over 60 school gardens across the county.
This spring, Māla‘ai hosted three Moku Meet-Up networking events for garden educators and four School Garden Workdays across Hawai‘i Island. In August, we tried something new as an extension of Kū ‘Āina Pā, the HISGN educator training program which has trained over 300 teachers since 2012. We brought together thirteen educators in a retreat to connect garden education with instructional practices informed by cognitive neuroscience!
These offerings were so important for our garden educators, 96% of whom agree that the support they received from HISGN helped them to positively impact their students. One educator shared, "My favorite part of the Moku Meet-Up was talking story with others, making more connections in our local community and eating ‘ono mea ‘ai!"
As part of the Hawai‘i Farm to School Network, HISGN advocates for school gardens, agriculture education, and improved school food across the pae ‘āina (all of Hawai‘i's islands). Māla‘ai continues to find creative ways to bring these opportunities to Hawai‘i Island.
Looking forward to 2025, HISGN will be launching Ke Kumu Uluwehi, a federally-funded garden education mentorship program that will deepen the pilina (connections) between Hawai‘i Island educators and culturally significant wahi kupuna (beloved places) and their caretakers. Keep an eye out for updates on this exciting new initiative!
We appreciate your generous investment in this island-wide resource for flourishing school gardens in Hawai‘i.
Celebrating 2024, Flourishing in 2025
'A'ohe hana nui ke alu 'ia. No task is too big when done together by all. ~Mary Kawena Pukui, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau No. 328
This year our humble māla in Ala ῾Ōhi῾a has witnessed the unfolding moʻokūauhau of Mālaʻai; a changing of hands as we bid a fond farewell to Holly and Eleonor, as Zoe found her way back to the garden, and as I stepped into this community of folks with aloha in their spirit and dirt under their fingernails. With so much change I am reminded that we can achieve great things when we each contribute to the work at hand, ʻaʻohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia, no task is too big when done together by all. From the tender first days of school when new sixth graders learn to mālama Hāloa to the everyday caring for the mea kanu of our island home, our passionate staff have shared in the dedicated work of ensuring all our students and teachers have access to ῾āina-centered, experiential learning that nurtures body, mind, and spirit, now and into the future. I am so grateful to be part of this strong and amazing community. Mahalo!
Māla‘ai Staff 2024
Jeannette Soon-Ludes, Executive Director
Kahikina Kaae-Whittle, Operations Assistant
Zoe Kosmas, Garden Program Director
Gabriel Grosshuesch, Garden Program Assistant
Leilani Waldron, HISGN Program Assistant
Donna Mitts, HISGN Outreach Coordinator, Garden Educator
Our goal is to raise $20,000 this month and we humbly invite you to contribute to our cause. Every donation matters and will be put to good use as we do all we can to help Hawaiʻi Island school gardens flourish in the coming year.
Here are ways to give:
Donate online: Join us with a one time donation! Click here.
Sustain: Become a sustaining donor with monthly or yearly recurring donations. Donate here.
Mail a check: Checks can be made out and addressed to Māla‘ai; please send to PO Box 543, Kamuela, HI 96743.
Transfer from Financial Institution: You can use our EIN#: 51-0646670 to make a direct transfer from your investment institution, or contact us for a direct bank transfer.
Mahalo nui for supporting Mālaʻai on our journey of growth with the ʻāina, youth, and educators of Hawaiʻi Island. We will continue to keep you updated about our work; if you want to volunteer or be more involved, please let us know. Mālama pono!
Me ke aloha pumehana,
Jeannette Soon-Ludes, Executive Director
Derrick Kiyabu, Healohamele Genovia, Sophia Bowart, Wendy Baker, Willie Quayle
Māla‘ai Board of Directors 2024
