Boys & Girls Clubs offer Furlough Fridays events

WAILUKU - The Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui will be offering an "Early Bird Program" to assist the community's families on Furlough Fridays.

The program is for children and teens 9 to 17 years old and costs $10 daily per child or $150 per youth for the 17 Furlough Fridays scheduled for this school.

The program will be offered from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Club's Central Maui, West Maui, Haiku and Makawao locations.

New club members will need to complete a membership form. Current members do not, but need to pay the Early Bird rate in order to participate in the program.

Each club will enroll as many as 60 youths. For more information, call in individual clubhouses' unit directors. They are: Emily Bartow, Central Maui, 242-4363, Ext. 224; Gay McDonald, Haiku, 575-9024; Lisa Rodrigues, Makawao, 572-6916; and Becky Vaughn, West Maui, 667-9314.

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Food drive to benefit Samoa tsunami victims

KIHEI - Donations for the victims of Samoa's Sept. 29 tsunami will be accepted during a Food Drive Friday event.

Radio station Q103 will hold a live broadcast with "Kilakila, the Big Hawaiian," beginning at 11 a.m. Friday at the Azeka Shopping Center in Kihei. Members of the band, Off Tomorrow, will collect donated items from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the shopping center.

At 4 p.m., Q103's afternoon show featuring "Shaggy" will broadcast live from BMW Maui and attempt to fill a donated BMW truck with donations. Items sought for donation include food goods, dry goods, baby products and hygiene items.

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Save Our Schools set to protest Furlough Fridays

WAILUKU - A group of parents and community members in Save Our Schools, or SOS, will hold a rally Friday to protest that day's first furlough for public school teachers.

The event takes place from 8 to 10 a.m. in front of the State Building on High Street in Wailuku. Save Our Schools is encouraging residents to contact their legislative representatives and ask that alternative funds be used to pay for furlough days.

Hawaii public schoolteachers ratified on Sept. 22 a two-year contract that included 17 unpaid days off for classroom teachers each year. Those days have become known as Furlough Fridays and begin this Friday when students have been told to stay home and go without instruction from their teachers.

For more information about this week's rally, call Liza DeLaRosa-Walker at 298-7272 or Kris Musto at 870-0553. Individuals can also sign up as a fan on the Facebook page Save Our Schools.

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Consent forms needed to be H1N1 vaccinated

WAILUKU - Parents who want their children - in grades kindergarten through 8th grade - vaccinated against the H1N1 virus need to fill out consent forms and return them to schools by Oct. 30, the state Department of Health announced Tuesday.

School officials have begun sending the forms home with children statewide. The free program is voluntary.

State Department of Health Director Chiyome Fukino said parents are being urged to take advantage of the opportunity to get their children vaccinated. She said it's the best protection parents can offer their children to prevent complications from flu.

For information on schools offering H1N1 vaccination clinics, go online to flu.hawaii.gov.

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Kahului Airport site of today's emergency drill

KAHULUI - An emergency response exercise will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Kahului Airport.

The exercise will strive for realism and involve a simulated crash of a Boeing 777 at the airport. Approximately 90 volunteers from Maui High School and Maui Community College will play roles as casualties from the airliner crash.

The event also will include a small, live-fire simulation at 9 a.m.

Normal airport flight operations will continue as normal during the exercise.