
The 2019-20 Community Service Narrative by Board of Director, Allen Kamemoto.
“Labor of Love” was a multi-club project at Kalihi Elementary which involved Rotarians, Trades people, and other various volunteers to help with minor carpentry, plumbing, and painting projects around the school. A total of 400+ volunteers from various organizations came to assist tradesmen from various unions for the renovations.
The focus for the signature projects for our club this year was Economic and Community Development and Education and literacy. The Kahauiki Village is a long term, permanent low cost rental housing for families with children to break the cycle of homelessness. The three projects this year involved collecting donations, both monetary and household goods on three separate occasions from Rotary Clubs on Oahu. In addition, we installed donated drapery rods, assembled storage shelving from a separate grant, helped with weeding and cleaning the grounds.
The November distribution was chosen for The Rotary Gives Thanks day, and the Rotarians at Work day was scheduled for April 25th, but was postponed due to the pandemic situation. That project entailed 1) clearing play areas and grass in preparation for purchasing and installing small playground areas next year, 2) working with the Eco Club in planting trees, and 3)maintenance of Phase I in cleaning and weeding some areas that needed attention and installing more shelving. In these projects, the residents are encouraged to participate and one of the residents is a former landscaper on Molokai and has been instrumental in helping to get the community involved.
The club also participated in monthly Next Step Shelter feedings. The Next Step Shelter is a transitional housing for the indigent and homeless. Food was purchased or donated and brought to the facility and members of the club fed the residents of the Next Step Shelter. All members of the club have participated during this past year.
We tried to keep Interact and Rotaract students involved with our activities this year. The Dole Middle Interact Club that we started this year, planned a Food Pantry project, which our club provided funds for, purchased and brought to the school and helped distribute food to the low-income residents in the neighborhood on November 16th and the 24th. We have invited the Roosevelt Interact club to help with Kahauiki project and during the RYLA conference, a UH Rotaract student attended and assisted and helped to inspire the Interact students.
In our efforts to promote literacy, we did two joint projects with the Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunrise and Read To Me International to provide a program for the residents to get their kids interested in reading.
All of our activities are posted on our calendar and After action reports are posted on our Clubrunner site, in addition to adding info to Rotary Club Central.