For a decade, students, parents, faculty and staff at 'Aikahi Elementary School in Kailua have joined together to "adopt" a half-dozen or so needy families as a way to brighten Christmas for folks who are less fortunate.

"It has become kind of a tradition here at our school," said Amy Solomon, Parent Community Network coordinator at 'Aikahi. "The students know it's coming."

And they look forward to it.

"I like the feeling of helping others," said sixth-grader Carson Butterbaugh, 11. "It makes me feel good."

This year, those good sentiments represent both the colossal need and outpouring of generosity that's occurring in the Islands, said Scott Morishige, director of programs for Helping Hands Hawai'i, the clearinghouse service agency that operates Adopt a Family.

"This year's Adopt a Family program is the biggest I've experienced," he said. "Normally, the program will only receive about 100 referrals of families who need help. This year, it is over 170, and still counting."

At the same time, he said, the phones are ringing off the hook at Helping Hands from individuals, businesses and schools such as 'Aikahi, eager to help.

This year, 'Aikahi has adopted five families.

While 'Aikahi is among a number of schools that participate in the Adopt a Family program, Morishige said, it has been at it longer than most others.

Principal Gay Kong said the idea — which the school calls Giving Baskets — has resonated with kids and grown-ups alike.

"Helping Hands Hawai'i gives us the names of the families, and they let us know what each family's specific needs are and what's on the family's 'Wish List,' " she said.

The whole effort is voluntary, and no one is required to participate, she said. Families in need are divided among faculty, grade levels and the school office; teachers send letters to parents outlining the Giving Basket program; impromptu brainstorming sessions are hatched to decide what needs to be given and how to get it.

"So, for example, this year there was a family that needed a computer," Kong said. "So, our office staff got together and I said, 'You know, my husband knows how to get computers pretty cheap, so we'll order it for the family and we'll all just chip in and pay for it. We'll give this family access to the world.' "

Students and parents can make individual wish-list donations if they choose, or maybe a whole class will finance a more expensive gift, such as a bed.

"In the past, they've given some wonderful gifts — bicycles, computers, televisions," Kong said. "And it is very nice stuff, not a hand-me-down. People go out and they actually buy. They're out Christmas shopping, and they figure, 'What's one more thing?' "

It's exciting, rewarding and fun all at once, say the students.

"I've never done a Giving Basket before," said Joshua Templeton, 12, who is new at 'Aikahi this year. "But I always wanted to, because it's not fair that we always get everything we want and they only get the necessities."

On the last day of classes before Christmas vacation, the whole student body of more than 500, along with faculty and staff, gather in the cafeteria for a holiday sing-along.

The highlight of the assembly happens with the opening of the curtains, and there, on stage, are the school's collected gifts — the entirety of the Giving Baskets collection — revealed together for the first time.

"And that's when they see all the items that every classroom has donated," Solomon said. "And the kids go, 'Wow!' And they all clap."

It's cheering for a Christmas well done.

"The Giving Baskets are good because other families don't have very much," explained Hanna Drake, 11. "And the donations will make their Christmas special, so they can get the stuff they need, and even extra stuff they want."

And everyone at 'Aikahi Elementary can get the goodness found in the feeling of helping others.