Waikele GM Lands Gig As Cover Model
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Del.icio.usMalcolm Ching, general manager for the Waikele Community Association, graces the cover of the Business Management Hawaii magazine as its first-ever Property Manager of the Year. Copies of the publication will be given out March 5 and 6 at the Blaisdell.
Phyllis Catcher of Hawaiian Property Management nominated him for the award. Part of the criteria was to find someone who does his job but also goes above and beyond the call of duty. Ching did just that when he started an anti-graffiti effort with five homeowners and one bucket of paint in 2004.
The 1981 Pearl City High School graduate put out a call for volunteers in the association newsletter, and people started joining once they found out how much fun the group had.
“Keeping an eye on graffiti has become like a game, and everyone alerts each other when they see something and when they take care of it,” Ching said.
There are more than 40 volunteers now involved in Taking Action Against Graffiti (TAAG), and they have cleaned up more than 700 graffiti sites in Waikele and Waipahu. Shopkeepers in Waikele also are involved, as they have donated things for the volunteers who help wipe out graffiti near the shopping areas.
All volunteers in the TAAG effort get a bucket, paint and a kit with a T-shirt that Ching designed. (He worked in graphic design for 11 years before switching to the WCA.) A Mililani resident, he noted that the group runs smoothly, and it hosts appreciation events twice a year.
“It just takes one community to say ‘We are going to fight it,” added Ching. “I don’t take the credit for myself; the credit goes to the volunteers.”
When he’s not busy working or spending time with his wife, Amy, he has a dual role with Civil Air Patrol, a high school cadet group, where he is a moral leadership and public affairs officer. He also enjoys playing golf and strumming bass guitar for West Oahu Hope Chapel.
Ching began working with the Waikele Community Association in 1997 as a covenant specialist, which is like a community police officer. He became general manager in 2003. His current gig has him in charge of 9,000 residents in 3,000 of the master-planned homes.
“If I had to give it a title, it’s like I’m the mayor of my own little city,” explained Ching. “I have a staff, security patrol, volunteers, landscapers and residents. If there are any problems between the homeowners, I’m a trouble shooter.”
As part of the job, the association coordinates two community events a year - the Easter Egg Hunt and Winter Wonderland. For the egg hunt, there will be clowns, bouncers, prizes, food, vendors and 6,000 Easter eggs. For Winter Wonderland, he rents out Ice Palace for the residents.
“We do this to build community,” said Ching.
“And it works, we really feel like a community.”
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