Pictured: Gifts piled up in the library at the UH medical school, all destined for keiki at homeless shelters throughout Oʻahu.
By UH Med Now
Christmas joy began arriving a few days early to homeless shelters on Oʻahu, including at one today on the Leeward Coast in Wai’anae. The operation got underway this afternoon, outside the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) where gifts were being loaded into a large RV, not a sleigh, and Santa’s elves wore caps of green, not red — which were boldly emblazoned with the University of Hawai’i ‘BIG H’ logo.
In this case, the ‘H’ stands for the Hawai’i HOME Project, the homeless outreach program that’s been going strong for more than a decade now at the U.H. medical school, founded by 1995 JABSOM alumna and Office of Medical Education Director Dr. Jill Omori.
Every year, HOME hosts an “Angel Giving Tree” adorned with the wishes of children at the nine different homeless shelters where the medical students, supervised by faculty and community doctors, offer free health care clinics several times a week.
This year the medical school library was jam-packed with all sorts of toys and necessities that were lovingly donated by medical school faculty, students, staff and friends, and colorfully wrapped by the MD and health sciences student volunteers of the HOME Project, which stands for Homeless Outreach and Medical Education.
The good cheer brought out the poet in UH Med Now video journalist Deborah Manog Dimaya, who crafted JABSOM’s own version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”:
See the KITV4 News video on their website.
Would you like to support the HOME Project?
We have an upcoming fundraiser on January 19. Learn more.
Or visit the HOME Project website.