Central Union Church hopes to reopen its daycare and kindergarten by Monday, less than two weeks after an early-morning fire destroyed one of the program's main structures on Oct. 22.

Meanwhile, church officials are reaching out to the community for help on rebuilding the structure, an undertaking that could cost between $1.2 million and $1.8 million, said church administrator Miguel Asuncion.

The fire gutted three classrooms, an office, store room and the teachers' lounge. It also destroyed most of the school's archives.

Other buildings on the church's lower Makiki campus were not damaged, including seven classrooms also used by the preschool and kindergarten, Asuncion said.

Thus, the church is trying to find space for about 84 preschoolers and kindergartners out of a total population of 180 students, he said.

Faculty and staff members yesterday were busy moving borrowed furniture and equipment into the makai parish hall and the existing preschool library where the students are to be relocated on a temporary basis, Asuncion said.

"It may inconvenience some people, but I think the kids come first, so that's the reason why we decided to that until such time we get an idea on how we're going to handle the rest of the (long-term) planning," Asuncion said.

"Our main concern is getting the children back to normalcy a little bit."

The church had already been planning for a new building but that had not progressed beyond some renderings, Asuncion said.

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the Criminal Investigations Division continues to look into the incident as an arson case. Yu encouraged those with information to call 529-3115.

Capt. Terry Seelig, a spokes- man for the Honolulu Fire Department, said his agency is also continuing its investigation into the cause and origin of the fire.

"It's sad that somebody would do this and affect the lives of the children," Asuncion said.

Donations to the church to help rebuild the school are being taken at the preschool at 1660 S. Beretania St., Bank of Hawaii branches, and by mail at Bank of Hawaii, P.O. Box 3830, Honolulu, HI 96812.