Civic Club Shares Aloha Spirit With Kapolei Neighborhood

Linda Dela Cruz
Wednesday - January 27, 2010
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Ahahui Siwila Hawaii O Kapolei members and scholarship recipients recently organized items such as notebooks, pens, pencils and glue into packs donated by Aloha Petroleum for children at the Onemalu Transitional Shelter and Queen Liliuokalani Children’s Center. Photo from Lance Holden.

Ahahui Siwila Hawaii O Kapolei, aka Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club, gears up for its annual scholarship fundraiser at 9 a.m. Saturday in the University of Hawaii Hawaiian Studies Hall, featuring a morning-long invitation-only hula workshop taught by Kumu Hula Kimo Alama-Keaulana with chanting and implements.

Founded in 1993, the Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club is on its 15th year of conducting the Tools for Schools program with the Queen Liliuokalani Children’s Center. Last year it distributed 187 backpacks filled with school supplies to children of Hawaiian ancestry.

“We give scholarships to kids of Hawaiian ancestry, or anyone pursuing Hawaiian studies,” said president Lance Holden, who is beginning his second two-year term.

Another highlighted effort is taking folks on site tours in Kalaeloa.


“We found areas we believe strongly look like they were places that were Hawaiian dwellings before the Western world (arrived),“said Holden, who helped found the club with his parents and brother.

“We do cleanups of Palehua, which is above Makakilo, as there are some heiau up there.”

For the past seven holiday seasons,Ahahui Siwila Hawaii O Kapolei, in coordination of the Episcopal St. Timothy and St. Nicolas churches, has made lives brighter with gifts and a lunch for children and families living in the Onemalu Shelter at Kalaeloa.

Also, with the help of Hawaiian Electric Company, they recently replanted the area by their Puu O Kapolei hula mound, where there were too many naupaka plants growing.

“We laid down grass in the area,” Holden explained. “And we grew native plants that are easy to take care of so even the nongardening-type of folks can pull weeds. It looks a lot nicer, and it is easier to clean up.”


 

Holden said they are always looking for members who are willing to give testimony on Hawaiian issues to the City Council or at the state Legislature.

The 17 year-old group currently has about 60 members. It meets at 11:45 a.m. on the third Sunday of each month at the Nanakuli Housing Corporation’s Kalaeloa classroom.

For more information, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or log on to http://www.kapoleihcc.com.

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