Jul 1, 2020 | Community
A Cup of Cold Water (ACCW), a shared outreach ministry of the Episcopal Churches of Maui and Friends, is looking to restart operations and begin with weekly mission runs on Wednesdays in the Central Maui area. ACCW’s roving care van will serve the areas of Central Maui where the larger homeless populations are gathered, including portions of old Wailuku Town, Beach Road, Kanaha, Kahului Industrial, and areas around and near the Kahului Salvation Army.
“Our mission continues to offer water, nutrition, hygiene, masks, and comfort to Maui’s neediest citizens, along with offering spiritual food, hope and referrals for those who desire it,” said Deb Lynch, ACCW President. “The South and West Maui mission runs are currently still on hold until further notice. ACCW has also supplied other on-going outreach programs, such as Maui Mental Health Kokua, Hale Kaukau, and the Salvation Army, with perishable food items, hygiene and first aid.”
ACCW began their direct services mission in 2013 as a no-salary, all-volunteer mission that does not accept any government grants or funding. It has its own independent supply chain of water, non-perishable food, hygiene, clothing, first aid and other needs. In 2019, they made almost 10,000 homeless service contacts through their weekly mission runs to Central, South, and West Maui.
“Thanks to our core of volunteers from within the community, and our wide range of supporters, the program has grown into a very loved outreach ministry for the island,” Lynch said. “Van drivers and riders, storage and distribution room organizers, administrators, donors, and other volunteers, are a shining example of how dedicated people bring compassion into the public arena to serve those in need. During this time of great need, we encourage everyone to vigorously support local frontline charities with monetary or food donations. For example, support is always needed at the Maui Food Bank, the Salvation Army, Feed My Sheep, Family Life Center, Hale Kaukau of St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Ka Ohana Kitchen of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Maui Rescue Mission, Ka Hale A Ke Ola, and food pantries. Every outreach ministry of our greater community could use help.”
COVID-19 has greatly increased the need for supplies for the homeless. We especially thank the community for their continued support and donations. Stay safe and healthy.
Deb Lynch, President, ACCW
Jun 24, 2020 | Innovation
Ka Ipu Kukui Fellows is a nonprofit community-based program created to identify and develop Maui’s future leaders. To date, over 150 accomplished young professionals have graduated from the year-long program. The Fellows are a diverse cross-section of residents drawn from business, government, academia and nonprofit organizations. In January, the group took part in Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Project Weekend. The preparation for this weekend began with a 60-second pitch exercise on Friday evening.
“We wanted to give the Fellows some tips and rehearsal for their pitches,” said Frank De Rego, Jr., MEDB Director of Business Development Projects and facilitator. “It sets them up for an intense weekend with the fellows working in teams through all the various aspects of project development to better address Maui Nui’s challenges.”
Coaches, with their backgrounds as business and community leaders, mentored the project teams the following day. The weekend culminated on the Sunday afternoon with the teams presenting a 5-minute pitch presentation to a panel of judges comprising of accomplished Maui Nui decision makers and influencers. A winner was announced although the emphasis of the weekend was on the learning process and for the Ka Ipu Kukui Fellows to get an immersive understanding of developing a project from start to finish.
The winning Project Weekend team included project creator Ashley Takitani-Leahey with Riley Coon, Teana Kaho’ohanohano, Jeeyun Lee and Carrissa Holley. “Project Weekend was intense but incredible,” said Holley. “I got to spend time with an amazing team. Combining all our skills, we learned so much from each other. We are all grateful to have such an amazing and supportive team here at MEDB who was there for us through thick and thin.”
Judge Brittany Heyd, cofounder of Mana Up, added, “The participants had their own angles and expertise on how to support Maui and solve problems that they foresee in the future. It was inspiring to see them use their own resources and work as a team to get the job done. We need our young leaders to step up with more innovative ideas for the future.”
With the social distancing regulations taking place on Maui for an indefinite time, Ka Ipu Kukui is looking at alternatives for the current and new cohort. Visit https://kaipukukui.com for more information.
The Fellows awareness of diverse topics and perspectives amazed the judges who had a difficult time choosing the winners.
Gerry Smith, MEDB Director of Business Development
Jun 17, 2020 | Community
Like other communities across the country, Maui County and its residents have been affected by the anger, grief and hurt caused by recent events in Minneapolis, Georgia, Louisville and elsewhere, and the resulting civil unrest. ‘The knee on the neck” is an apt metaphor for the anguish and fear that learned hatred and bigotry – sometimes casual, sometimes coded – cause for so many of our fellow citizens.
MEDB joins in condemning the systemic racism evidenced by these events. We stand with those raising their voices, protesting injustices, and demanding constructive change. We cannot achieve social justice when members of our communities are oppressed on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity.
MEDB is committed to inclusivity, diversity, and the power of education and community engagement, especially for the underrepresented and those who feel disenfranchised. We work towards tackling the inequities that exist in so many aspects of our society.
We see hope for the future in our young people especially, who have articulated their dissatisfaction, here as elsewhere, with the status quo on issues ranging from oppression and social injustice to climate change.
We are truly blessed to live in a place of rich culture, natural beauty and abundance, but we must all acknowledge the importance of inclusion and equity of access for shared prosperity while recognizing our own particular history of past injustice and cultural oppression.
John Harrisson, Program Director, MEDB, and father of two African-American young men
Jun 10, 2020 | Sustainability
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), the program that makes a big difference by matching children facing adversity with older role models in one-to-one relationships, is adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. While bringing people together in person to go out and share activities is their main goal, they cannot do that at this time. BBBS wants everyone to be safe, and to their surprise, their families of matches have embraced the moment and are having lots of fun connecting virtually.
“During this very challenging and uncertain time, our mission remains to build and support one-to-one relationships, and to ignite the biggest possible future for our youth,” said Courtney Ikawa, Maui BBBS Regional Director. “These are really scary times for all of us, but especially for the children. Since the stay-at-home orders were enacted on Maui, the youth have lost access to school meals as well as resources that connected them to the outside world. Our Maui staff, working from home, have innovated our service delivery to ensure the children stay virtually in touch with their BBBS mentors.”
BBBS is serving as a hub for families by directing them to community resources and by providing virtual workshops for both the parents and volunteers. Their one-to-one matches have been meeting through phone calls, video chats, texts, and email. In fact, they have become highly creative, and went on their first virtual matches tour to visit the USS Missouri, the historic battleship anchored at Pearl Harbor.”
“We are still enrolling children and volunteers, and we are continuing to support virtual relationships during this time of social distancing,” Ikawa said. “Our program is an essential service that we must continue to provide because the young people that we serve through this pandemic are likely to bear the heaviest burdens of trauma and economic fallout. Each child and mentor is connected with one of our staff who provides ongoing coaching for the youth, training for the volunteer, and resources for the family. We continually need investment in our mission to ensure our agency remains open, which community members can do in numerous ways.”
BBBS’s youth-centered program helps children to create goals that mentors can help them achieve. For more information visit www.bbbshawaii.org
Courtney Ikawa, Maui BBBS Regional Director
Jun 3, 2020 | Community, Small Business, Sustainability
More than 33,000 pounds of food are being distributed by the Maui Food Bank to Moloka‘i residents in need through a $20,000 contribution from the Hawaiian Electric Industries Charitable Foundation (HEICF). HEI is the parent company of Hawaiian Electric, which supplies power to Maui, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island. In March, the HEICF contributed $50,000 to the Hawai‘i Food Bank and pledged another $75,000 to United Way agencies in support of their efforts to assist families in need across the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current donation provides additional shipments to supplement Maui Food Bank’s regular monthly delivery of food to Moloka‘i. Once delivered, 19 partner agencies across the island distribute nutritious fresh food to individuals, families, children, and seniors on fixed incomes, those without shelter—anyone who is at risk of going hungry.
“During this coronavirus pandemic with many more in our communities facing hardships, the Maui Food Bank is experiencing a significant increase in requests for food assistance,” said Richard Yust, Executive Director of the Maui Food Bank. “This generous contribution from Hawaiian Electric enables much needed additional pallets of food to be shipped to Moloka‘i where food distributions are being depleted.”
Sharon Suzuki, President of Maui County and Hawai’i Island Utilities for Hawaiian Electric said, “We are grateful for organizations like the Maui Food Bank and the on-island partner agencies for maintaining this critical service throughout these uncertain times. We are all in this together and we want to help alleviate this escalating need for basic necessities in one of the most remote communities we serve.”
“ʻAʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia! No task is too large when we come together,” said Kilia Purdy-Avelino of Alu Like, Inc., a partner agency on Moloka‘i. “Mahalo to all for working together in unity to aloha Moloka‘i with such generous donations from the Maui Food Bank, Hawaiian Electric and other companies, non-profit organizations, and even individuals. The overwhelming gratitude from the receiving families speaks volumes of what the extra Food Bank deliveries mean to our community.”
We are grateful to all the volunteers and donors helping to distribute food throughout the island to those in need.
Sharon Suzuki, President, Maui County and Hawai’i Island Utilities
