Is there a bigger crisis than having your child face a major medical problem?

Treating the issue may result in family members going off-island — away from ‘ohana, friends and their support network — to face that challenge alone.

Next, the financial challenges kick in. The usual bills arrive while the additional costs of being away from home escalate.

“On top of this is that so many of these families are under everyone’s radar, except for those with the support to mount their own fundraising campaign. This is very few of those families facing these problems,” A Keiki’s Aloha Foundation (a.k.a.) explained.

Fortunately, a.k.a. offers help to these families at this critical time.

The organization has helped 16 families so far in 2022, including 13 from March to June. Among these families are two from the Big Island, two from Lanai, two from Hana and the rest from other places on Maui

This new foundation has served several children with cancer, other keiki with major organ problems and several Neonatal Intensive Care Unit babies, including a little one at 17 months who has been in NICU his entire life except to go to Stanford Medical Center for two heart surgeries.

A Keiki’s Aloha Foundation Inc. is a 501(c)(3) recognized as a tax-exempt organization with the IRS and State of Hawaii.

They are the same dedicated people who previously founded and organized A Keiki’s Dream Program and also helped dozens of similar Hawaii families under “Sammy’s Keiki Aloha Fund.”

a.k.a. is a grassroots, traditional charity and does not pay any salaries or rent. Money that comes in goes directly to these families in crisis.

All donations are fully tax-deductible. For more information, contact Darby Gill at www.akeikialoha.org or (808) 446-6662.