Through the Lahaina Complex After School Tutor Project, 142 tutors mentored 200 children from September into April during the 2014-15 school year.

LAHAINA – The Aina Nalu Wine & Silent Auction Fundraiser, a benefit for the Lahaina Complex After-School Enrichment Tutor Project, will be held Saturday, May 23, 2015 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the beautiful Aina Nalu Pavilion in Lahaina Town.

The Aina Nalu condo owners are proud sponsors of this gala event. Fabulous silent auction items will be available on which to bid, including hotel stays, snorkel trips, whale watching excursions, stand up paddle lessons, mat classes, parasail rides, many works by local artists, jewelry and luaus. There have been donations of gift certificates from many fine restaurants, including Fleetwood’s, Sea House Restaurant, Mala, Koa’s Seaside Grill, Gazebo, Leilani’s on the Beach, Kimo’s, Duke’s, Hula Grill, Lulu’s, Mama’s Fish House, Lahaina Pizza, Cool Cat Caf, Captain Jack’s and Penne Pasta Cafe.

Lahaina Complex After-School Enrichment Tutor Project was founded by, and has been managed by, Pat and Richard Endsley for 14 years. There are many success stories of the tutoring program. Joshua, ex-student at Princess Nahienaena Elementary School and Lahaina Intermediate, is graduating this June Magna Cum Laude. Mae, also from Princess in grades 3-5 and a former tutor at Lahainaluna High School, just graduated from Grand Canyon University in Arizona Magna Cum Laude with a nursing degree. Several outstanding LHS athletes have been in the tutoring programs and have graduated with scholarships to universities on the Mainland. Many of the LHS math tutors for the fourth grade math program have graduated with honors and have received scholarships to universities in Hawaii and on the Mainland. The tutor project believes in early intervention for reading and math with supportive rigorous enrichment curriculum instructional lessons for students in grades 3-8 at no cost to students. Our goal is to increase literacy for our Lahaina keiki.

The goal for the 2015 fundraiser is to surpass the 2013 fundraiser, which resulted in a $21,000 donation to the program to help defray its cost. Bus transportation for students to and from tutoring sessions, duplication of materials, supplies and snacks are just some of the mounting costs each year.

Tickets to the fundraiser can be purchased online at Eventbrite.com, or pfee.org, or by contacting Barbara Potts at 344-5008. Tickets are $60 per person. The ticket price includes two glasses of wine, pupus and fabulous entertainment by Gary Larson, smooth jazz guitarist.