WAI'ANAE — Mary Hashimoto has very little in the way of material wealth but is thankful that her six children are healthy and that she has a house to raise them in.

The 31-year-old homemaker has pinched pennies, repaired recycled electronics and pulled usable furniture off of trash heaps while making the best home she can with what she's got. Hashimoto has been able to get by with help from family and the Institute for Human Services, which helped her find money for a down payment.

"If I didn't get help, right now we'd probably be on the beach. With all these kids you have to limit everything but we're making the best of it," said Hashimoto, as her 16-year-old daughter Catherine stood on the porch holding her 1-year-old sister Jennalynn.

"If they didn't give us this help, with the money and stuff, we wouldn't have this house. We don't always get this help so when we do it's great."

Despite the tough times, Hashimoto's cupboards were full yesterday, after Robert and Lauren Dawson came by bearing a box full of food.

The Dawsons moved to Honolulu from Arizona six months ago, and joined about 140 volunteers who stocked food into boxes in the dining room of IHS' women's shelter yesterday morning.

In a room packed with people that resembled a mix between a supermarket stock room and a gift wrapping station, the Dawsons, accompanied by their 6-year-old son Andrew, wrapped a cardboard box in Christmas wrapping and loaded it with cans of corn, meat and other assorted food items.

Each volunteer was then assigned one family to deliver the food to. Each of the families receiving food had at one time been homeless or received aid and are now in some kind of permanent housing but still experiencing financial hardship.

FAMILY TO FAMILY

The Dawsons and the Hashimotos could not be more different.

Robert Dawson owns his own business consulting firm and his wife, Lauren, is a neuropsychologist at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. Their son Andrew attends 'Iolani School. The family had never been to Wai'anae or Leeward O'ahu before yesterday.

The Hashimotos' six kids attend Wai'anae Elementary, Intermediate and High schools and the family lives in a small home on Kaupuni Place.

None of that mattered yesterday as Robert and Lauren discussed what was on the menu in the Hashimoto house as Andrew sat playing with the Hashimotos' kitten, Tricky. In addition to the box of food from IHS, Lauren Dawson brought a bag of new toys for the Hashimoto children and chili tickets from Zippy's.

Mary Hashimoto's six kids, Harvey, Austin, Shawn, Mary Jane, Catherine and Jennalynn, darted in and out of the house, stopping to say hello while chasing some of the family's many adopted dogs, cats and guinea pigs.

"We've been wanting to do something to give back as a family," said Lauren Dawson.

Robert Dawson said helping others in need was ingrained into his upbringing by his parents.

"To whom much is given much is expected," said Dawson. "A lot of getting ahead in life is luck and we've had a lot of luck. We plan on doing this every year."

WANTING TO GIVE BACK

By 8:45 a.m. yesterday, the third-floor dining room in the women's shelter at IHS was packed with people and the line of volunteers extended down the stairwell. Volunteers emptied cans and boxes of donated food onto tables while others packed delivery boxes.

Eugene Dixon, a 45-year-old police officer from Las Vegas, said he was in Honolulu visiting his wife's family, and wanted to take time on Thanksgiving to give back.

"Wherever I go, even when traveling, I try to do as much volunteering as I can because I am so blessed," said Dixon. "We tend to forget there are things greater than ourselves."

Meagan Kellogg, a 29-year-old home care specialist from Kailua, brought her daughter down to IHS yesterday morning to help stock and deliver food boxes.

"It's something I always talked about but never actually did and I thought it was something my daughter should get involved with," said Kellogg. "We're lucky. We wanted to give back."

The nonprofit IHS continues to try and help the most needy, despite being hit by difficult economic times.

Connie Mitchell, IHS' director, said revenue is down 30 percent compared with last year and hopes that people continue to give whatever they can during the holiday season.

"When people face a lot of hardship, it can get really depressing so we have to offer hope for them," said Mitchell. "For some of them (the people whom IHS helps) they've really kind of moved on. They're doing OK but with the economy the way it is, they've been pushed to the edge. It's tough to do, there is so much need knocking on our door every day."