Patches raise nearly $3,000 to help family-focused nonprofit
WAILUKU — Nearly $3,000 raised from sales of police Domestic Violence Awareness patches last month will help the nonprofit Parents and Children Together do more for families, including some who may be in “dire” sit- uations, its Maui director said.
“Not any one grant can cover all the expenses of running the program,” said Margot Sneed, Maui program director of PACT. “When you have money like this that’s not restricted, it really makes a big difference in helping people.
“It’s a lot easier to be able to help someone where they really need it. Sometimes clients are in such a dire situation that they can’t even stay in the shel- ters on Lanai or Maui. We might have to get them off is- land to Oahu or the Mainland.”
On Nov. 9, PACT became the latest organization to receive proceeds from sales of special Maui Police Department patches, which have also helped nonprofits said Lt. raise Audra they awareness commemorate, Sellers, for commander the of the police Community Relations Section. “We have these partnerships,” she said. “You create these networks of people. A lot of people in the community want to give and they don’t know who to give to.”
Since launching its first pink patch for cancer awareness in October 2020, police have sold patches to benefit organizations including Imua Family Services and the Maui Humane Society. A “Support Our Veterans” patch for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3850 in Kihei sold out in four days af- ter its release this month, Sell- ers said.
She said most of the patches have sold out, although police have limited quantities of some. Each issue contains 500 patches that are sold for $10 each, with some of the money from sales funding the next patch and the rest going to the nonprofit. “It’s a self-sustaining program,” Sellers said. Police officers have been allowed to wear the patches as part of their uniform.