Wai’anae, HI

November 19, 2015

Each morning, 19 year old Adam Naki has something to do. On weekdays, she has to haul her own water to the Waianae Boat Harbor to make sure she can wash dishes, have drinking water, and shower. Another chore she has to do is make sure her generator is working in order to get electricity to charge her fan, and other electric appliances.

The reason Adam has to deal with these small domestic labors, is because she is one of 3.5 million homeless in the world.

For the state of Hawai’i, at least 6,300 people are homeless on any given day. Though their reasons may vary; i.e. unemployment, high cost of living, one thing is certain- they do not have a permanent residence. Adam herself has moved 12 times before finally settling at Hale ‘A’Ole in Waianae.

Hale ‘A’ole translates to “without home” from the Hawaiian word ‘Hale’ which means home, and ‘‘A’ole’, which means “no”. Currently, the land that is being occupied by the Hale ‘A’ole members is owned by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

While being homeless wasn’t what they had planned, residents believe it’s a good place.

“This community needs to be united to function well...living in this community...coming together...everybody has to get along,” said Adam Naki.

According to National Alliance to End Homelessness, Hawaii has the highest number of homeless people relative to their population. It’s an issue that has divided the state for a while now.

“There’s not enough Section 8 vouchers, there’s not enough public housing units, there’s not enough low cost rentals out there. So people are just cycling back, either they’re back homeless, back in the shelter,” said District 21 State Senator Maile Shimabukuro.

“One of the things we’re looking at really is trying to support people transitioning off the streets and beaches and directly into housing.” said State Homeless Coordinator Scott Morishige.

“The government cannot do this alone, this really requires a unified community approach. I think that’s how we can bring our different resources together to address this issue that’s facing our state.”

For everyone at the state, these solutions are still a work in progress. In the meantime, Hale ‘A’Ole is doing what they see fit.

“To me, you gotta set morals out here. It’s no different than being in a house.” said Hale ‘A’ole community leader, Twinkle Borge.

Until the nation can come to a consensus on addressing homelessness, Hale ‘A’Ole remains a safe haven for those with no place to go. For now, this is Adam’s place somewhere she can temporarily call home.

“How you know if it’s home is if it’s your sanctuary, if you feel that you’re want to be there.” said Adam.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
In Wai’anae High School students are able to choose the classes they are interested in and want to learn more about. For senior Briahna Rivera, the choice was always a simple one and in 9th grade she chose the path of JROTC. “I wanted to learn leadership skills and to learn things at a high level,” said Rivera.

For Briahna, her goal of learning the ropes of a leader paid off in her senior year when she became Battalion Commander for all of Waianae High School cadets.

“Based on my leadership skills and things I did, they looked at my test scores and I had high test scores and that’s how I got my position,” explained Rivera.

With a top position, comes hard work and for Briahna that’s what she went through for JROTC’s biggest event in the state. The Waianae Adventure Challenge (WAC) is hosted by Waianae High School’s very own ROTC program and is a three day challenge with over 80 teams from schools all over the island. Cadets compete in challenges such as water crossing, swimming, physical tests, rope bridging and other physical events. This year marks the 9th challenge and battalion commander Briahna, plays a big part in her school’s participation. During WAC, Rivera’s job is to make sure all cadets are in right order. Sometimes ordering around cadets is a hassle, since there are so many teams to look over.

“My struggle is just making sure that everyone ends up in the right place,” said Briahna.

From water crossing to rope bridges to various obstacle courses, certain Wai’anae High School cadets figure out the key to success and getting the job done.

“You can’t do everything by yourself, you can’t let others rely on you, you have to work together to get everything done,” said senior Alavoni Tukunaga.

At the closing ceremonies, Wai’anae high school went home with three trophies. Boys took home first for rope bridge, girls took home for tug of war and mixed took home second for tug of war. Even though one of the trophies wasn’t the Golden Eagle, which went to Kapolei who was the best overall team performance. At the end, Briahna has learned a lot about herself and what she can bring back home.

“From WAC I gained more leadership skills, you are in charge of 400 cadets,” stated Rivera. For Briahna wherever her life ends up is not something she is afraid of. Stepping into the field of presenting yourself in the outside world is what she is used to. WAC is not only a challenge of personal strength, but also mental endurance and how far you can motivate your team and yourself.

"Motivation during WAC is like a key to everyone, if you don’t have motivation you won’t get your events done,” Tukunaga states.

Briahna's next obstacle is to succeed at the obstacles that college has to offer her.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 23, 2013

In today’s society when some people think of the sport of wrestling they think about large muscular men with strange stage names.

“My favorite is Umaga” said Sani Pitolo.

Greco-Roman wrestling is a combat sport which confronts two male competitors who try to gain control over their opponent through the use of throws, locks, and clinching techniques. The holds can only be executed by means of the upper body, with the ultimate goal of pinning the opponent's shoulders to the mat. Wrestling is not only a sport for boy but for girls too. Malie Gonsalves a Senior at Waianae High school dominates the mats when wrestling because to Malie it’s more than just a sport but a lifestyle. Although wrestling is a very physical sport, it is not all about being physically strong but also mentally.

At Waianae High Schools senior Malie Gonsalves said “My struggles was mostly mental cause you need to have a strong mental attitude to be able to wrestle and so once you get mentally strong then the physical part gets easier”.

Last year Gonsalves competed for the OIA championship finals in the last match while losing by six points in the first two period she remembered to not give up and won her match by two points and became the OIA champion. When overcoming her struggles from the help of her father; her biggest encouragement knowing what she goes through and what it takes to be on top also brings her up to do better. With the season starting back up learning wrestling techniques, strength training and conditioning Gonsalves proves to herself to be better of what others think of her.

“Well when people underestimate me I just try to prove them wrong and I can make myself better at the same time” Gonsalves said.

Knowing when she doesn’t do her best, Gonsalves betters herself for the next one while looking foward and prepares for her next match. By getting introduced to the sport by her father, to Malie wrestling is more than just a sport but a lifestyle.

“My plans after high school is hopefully go to college on the mainland and if possible and get a full scholarship to wrestle” Malie said.

Continuing to wrestle after high school Gonsalves is looking at the University of Oregon women’s wrestling team as a possible option. Hoping to go to college on the mainland and the possibility of getting a full scholarship to wrestle Malie continues to do what is her whole life.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
February 19, 2014- Wai'anae, Hawaii

E-Cigarettes may seem like the hot new trend in Hawaii, but according to abcnews.com they were invented in the 1960s.

An Electronic Cigarette or E-Cig is a device that contains nicotine, in which you receive through vapor inhalants. Not only does it give of nicotine but it also comes in non-nicotine, where users do it for the vape. With the E-Cigs there is over a hundred different vapor flavors ranging from fruit to coffee base to dessert styles. The E-Cig is starting to trend all over the world, especially in Hawai’i. Volcano Fine Electronic Cigarettes a worldwide seller of the product has opened and expanded to ten stores statewide. It’s was built on the theory that it’ll be a better alternative than smoking and also a way for regular smokers to get nicotine in a “healthier way”. Since it’s still new and known for now as unharmful E-Cig smokers enjoy the rule of vaping in any public setting.

“Everywhere, Cars, Beach you know you can smoke it pretty much anywhere,” said E-Cig smoker Vaughn Osterna.

There is always the possibility of having harmful effects.

“There are many health risks, the most important one that we actually know is that nicotine is a very addictive substance,” said Dr. Nicolas Nelken.

Dr. Nelken works as a Vascular Surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Moanalua, Hawaii. He is very familiar on how cigarettes affect people internally and just like others is trying to see if E-Cigarettes do similar damage.

“E-Cigs are still very very new, I would remind you that it took twenty years to figure out that cigarettes were associated with cancer, twenty years from now we’re gonna start seeing what bad health effects are with E-Cigs, so it’s very difficult to know,” said Nelken.

What officials and the people of Hawaii do know is that in the beginning of 2014, DOH banned cigarette smoking on all city beaches, parks, pools, and athletic facilities. The thing is E-Cigarettes were exempt from the law because officials don’t know how it much it’ll affect others with secondhand smoke.

Reasonings of why the ban on cigarettes were place was because it’s common knowledge to the public on how it could cause cancer.

“About five thousand identified chemicals, four thousand of these are known to be poisonous. That’s why cigarettes are so bad for you, only one of those is nicotine,” said Dr. Nelken.

Since E-Cigarettes lack many of the chemicals that occur in secondhand smoke, they able to see the limelight, as officials didn’t place a ban yet.

“Now whether banning E-Cigarettes has an effect on cigarettes or not is a difficult thing to know. I’ll tell you since we know so little about the long term effect of E-Cigarettes, I think it’s prudent to release them carefully and very slowly liberalize use if it becomes clear that they are safe but since we don’t know that it seems prudent also to lump them in with cigarettes in terms of their use”, suggest Nelken.

As for now the Hawaii State Lawmakers limited the use of cigarette smoke in public areas, but for E-Cigarettes it’s a future still left hazy.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
February 19, 2014, Wai'anae, Hawaii

Although the cost of living in Hawaii has an expensive price tag, there is one way some local residents are racking up savings.

According to the Institute of Energy Research, Hawaii has the most expensive energy in the country with gas prices at $3.47 a gallon. Gasoline is not the only necessity costing more on the islands. Groceries such as orange juice or milk can cost up to seven dollars a gallon. Life-long Hawaii resident and mother of four, Corinne David, has decided to literally cut the cost out of shopping.

“Couponing is when you go shopping and you bust out your coupons, thats your money,” David said. Coupons are printed discounts that are offered in newspapers, online and in other media. The coupons alone only add up to a few cent’s off merchandise, but a few cents here and there can lead to hundreds in savings a month.

Accourding to Yahoo.com by spending 20 minutes per week the adverage consumer can save $1,000 per year by taking advantage of the coupon and special offiers.

Corinne spends about three hours a week planning her shopping trip. First she cuts out the coupons and then begins outlining her game plan consisting of price matching from stores, getting competing advertisement and shopping on the clearance racks.

“You like clearance because you can use coupons to get it even cheaper” David said. The three hours of clipping and deal hunting can sometime save Corrine and her family over 75% off of retail prices.

The potential for savings that couponing offers does not suit every consumer. School teacher, Vanessa Shalkey, doesn’t mind paying regular price for products.

“I think couponing is cool, you can save a lot from the discounts, but it takes time to look and cut them all out. Also, they may not have the products that I want at the moment,” said Shalkey.

For Corinne David and many others, couponing is all about getting the lowest price she can possibly get. “If I can get it for free, I want it for free. Thats the goal, 100% just pay the sales tax” David said.

Every week Corrine purchases four Sunday papers every week and with the amount money Corinne saves from couponing, she can put towards other expenses.

“I can use the savings, towards my kids football practice, or football buying their uniforms” David said . With a household of six people Corinne will continue to coupon in the future.

“I like that my mom coupons because I get free stuff, I like that she brings home deodorant because I don’t want to smell stink” said Kody Rosa. Even though Kody dislikes carrying the bags of groceries he still likes it when his mom come home with new stock. With scissors in hand Corinne David will stop when then the last copy of inserts are extinct.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 28th, 2013

According to the center for disease control, obesity has doubled in teens and tripled in adolescents in the past thirty years. This growing number of overweight youth in the United States indicates that today’s youth are not getting the exercise they need.

Waianae High School’s (WHS) students are required to take one semester of physical education in the four years they attend. This is nowhere near the recommended amount of physical activity for teens. Students can get added exercise by walking or biking to campus. The majority of the WHS community live within a five to 10 mile radius of the school. Making biking a healthier and more environmentally friendly alternative to the bus or being dropped of. “I bike because it helps me stay healthy and I don’t want to pollute the atmosphere”, said English teacher Lawrence Dreyfuss.

Biking as a transportation activity is being denied to WHS students by the simple fact that they can’t securely park a bike at school. "They should have racks to encourage kids to ride bikes", said Daniel Bruening Plop.

Biking to school could be faster and safer than walking because of how much quicker you could get to your destination. “I get here pretty fast and safely using my bike”, said AP english teacher Mr. Dreyfuss.

Mr. Dreyfuss is an AP teacher that has had a couple of his students in the past have issues with Waianae not having bike racks. "One of my students had to put his bike in my class because he thought that it was gonna get stolen", said Dreyfuss. Daniel is a WHS Senior that rides his bike to school and chains it to the tree in the parking lot. This lack of a secure space actually prevents some students from using a bike even when they can. "I would bike but there are no bike racks”, said Junior Damien Dean.

“There are many benefits to having bike racks but we just don’t have the resources to obtain it”, said Shane Nakamura.

Shane is the counselor for the WHS Searider Productions academy. Shane believes that there are many reasons we should have bike racks but he also knows that there is no budget at WHS to pay for the cost of bike racks. “It all comes down to the money”, said Shane.

Transportation may be a problem for students and that is why Shane feels that there should be bike racks to not only compensate those who are willing to ride but maybe to also get some other people to start riding their bikes.

Biking could provide the exercise help students need to be more physically fit by having them be more active everyday when they have to ride their bike home rather than having to catch the bus or drive. Also this combined with Waianae’s selection of healthy food could benefit the students in a healthy way. By Waianae adding bike racks it could encourage students to be more healthy and ride bikes. “ I would ride if there were bike racks because thats way better than catching the bus or walking”, said Dean.

For students at WHS there is no way to guarantee that they get the exercise they need but bike racks may create the opportunity they need to start living a healthier life.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 08, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii

15,000 adolescents in the United States are diagnosed with type one diabetes each year. Type one diabetes is when the body doesn't’ produce insulin. Without insulin, the body cannot convert sugar from food into nutrients for the cells. Some effects are extreme thirstiness, weight loss, drowsiness, and heavy breathing.

According to American Diabetes Association, about 2,050 children in Hawaii are affected by type one diabetes. In 2013, ten-year-old Markaiya Spencer became one of the 2,050.

Markaiya had been having stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting for the past year. She was suffering from these afflictions, not knowing that they are some of the symptoms for type one diabetes. “Because I had a really horrible pain, like every time I breathe, it hurt. One day, it just tightened up every time I took a breathe,” she said. Soon after the symptoms started, Markaiya was sent to the hospital, finding out she has type one diabetes.

There is no cure to type one diabetes, but there are treatments to manage the condition. With proper management, diet and exercise a person with diabetes can still live a long healthy life. Markaiya is now taking five shots of insulin a day, and also has changed her eating habits. She eats three meals, and two snacks every day.

“Before every meal I have to do all my medical things like test my blood sugar, and do my Humalog, which is my needle shot,” she said.

She has to take a shot to check her glucose level, or sugar count. The glucose level tells her how much insulin to take.

Markaiya also has to go on a diet of 60 grams of carbs per meal each day. She can no longer eat candy, or any type of food with high sugar in it.

“I can’t eat when I want to when I’m hungry now, and because sometimes when I want to play outside I can’t because of the insulin. It might come out of my sweat when it’s really hot outside,” Markaiya said.

She uses a booklet that contains a list with how many fat, carbs, and sugar is in a certain type of food. She then takes all of the food she’s about to eat, and adds them all up to equal 60 grams of carbs. The mathematical balancing act is time consuming, but it is a small price to pay to stay healthy.

Being diagnosed with diabetes at such a young age and having to take on greater responsibilities to make sure she maintains a healthy lifestyle has opened up her eyes in a new way . “I just want to say that diabetes, now that I experienced it, I feel really scared. And now I know that kids diabetes is worse than adult diabetes and that’s what makes me really scared, and that’s all.”

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 8th, 2013

Not a lot can happen in 26 seconds, but in the United States, thats all it takes for one student to drop out of high school. However, some students do make it out in time, 69% at Wai’anae High School according to Counselor Shane Nakamura.

In America, children are taught that if you sit in a classroom for 15 years and get good grades, and then sit in a lecture hall for 4 to 8 years, you’ll be successful. The road to college is perceived by some high school students as the only option, but others have found another way.

“We’re lending money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back, to educate them for jobs that no longer exist. We have become ‘profoundly disconnected’,” Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs said on his website mikeroweworks.com.

His website is dedicated to educating students in jobs that do still exist, such as trades. Apprenticeships are programs you can enter that are centered around a specific trade. For example, in a construction apprenticeship, you get hands on learning on a job site as well as one or two classes such as trigonometry and surveying building layouts to help you further understand work in your trade. A new study done by Purdue University shows that hands on learning helps people to develop a deeper understanding of a subject as compared to lecture or book based learning.

As compared to college, an apprenticeship program takes about four years, and you start working right away at about ten dollars an hour. At Wai’anae High School, there is an entire building dedicated to College and Career planning, and a college presentation almost every week, but not many students are aware of apprenticeships as an option after high school. According theguardian.com, an estimated 55% of this years college graduates will fail to land a job that requires a degree, but in an apprenticeship, you start work as you learn, and progress to a full-time position upon program completion.

College just isn’t for everyone. “After my first semester of college, my teachers told me to stop wasting my money. I was failing all my classes so they told me to just not come back,” said John Bator, a non-working foreman and graduate of the apprenticeship program. For him, an apprenticeship was the right choice,”I was already working three jobs, so when a friend of mine told me about the program, It seemed like just the best answer. I’ve been working in Construction for 25 years and I’m the boss now.”

John started in the apprenticeship program working for about 10 dollars an hour, and has worked his way up to about 40, learning valuable skills with real-world application along the way. “I would definitely tell any kid out there that learns better hands-on to check out the program.”

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 27th, 2013

Here in Hawaii, when someone thinks of a University of Hawaii football game tailgating events, star players, or even the peppy cheerleaders on the side lines come to mind first. Rarely does the casual fan think about the workers above the action in the press box. There are reporters from different media sources that cover the game, and workers who keep track of the scores and individual statistics. Among this mix of reporters and number keepers is color analyst for ESPN Radio 1420, John Veneri, whose job is to announce the game from the radio booth. With a large amount of people in the booths, comes a load of pressure.

“Anything else before the actual games you have butterflies, then once you get into it you get three hours, you can’t stay nervous for very long,” Veneri said.

Announcers like Veneri need to be very cautious with what they say not only because of the teams, but their family and friends in the stands. “You have to be careful on what you say, even though they’re college players they’re still kids. Their families listen, their coach wides listen, while there’s no pressure, there is a certain level, you have to have a certain level of professionalism to talk about the kids, the players,” Veneri said.

With having to be careful with their words, it packs more pressure on to the press box crew. Even with high levels of professionalism as announcers, everyone make mistakes.

“When you make mistake and you don’t realize it till later, you kind of just brush over it and then just sure you say whatever’s true or correct later on,” Veneri added.

When the game is over and the players have shook hands, the workers in the press box wrap everything up. Ease has come over the workers above the field after they have felt the same pressure that the players might feel. The pressure of this game may be over, but there is always a new game. Luckily, it’s the pressure of the job that keeps them going.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
October 28th, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii

Hawaii is home to over 7,500 farms, covering over one million acres. On a few of these acres sits Maili Moa, or Maili Chicken. They’re an egg farm on the Leeward Coast of Oahu who’ve been rolling out their product for almost two decades. The owner, Mark Takaki, is all about quality and control on his farm. “Quality control is so important to us here, which is why everything we do is all hands on. It keeps things regulated and just gives us a better egg for our customers,” said Takaki.

A lot of work takes place to get these eggs from the chicken to the customers. Everyday, eggs on the farm are washed, sized, graded, and the packaged. Some will be delivered to customers who subscribe to monthly deliveries while others will be packaged for sale on the farm. Regardless of destination, the process and care of the eggs is always the same.

Providing the consistent service and product isn’t cheap though. Hawaii does not have a feed mill, so it has to be flown in for an enormous cost, which left Maili Moa scrambling to make ends meet. Takaki said, “Feed prices went through the roof overnight and basically we needed to downsize because we couldn’t compete with the mainland eggs coming in so cheap.”

Still, this didn’t keep the chickens on the farm from cheeping. To ensure their survival, the farm separated themselves from the flock and switched to producing cage-free eggs. Takaki is the only farmer in Hawaii who has made the switch, and the difference really shows. “I enjoy when my customers come and they really say, ‘We don’t wanna buy from the mainland, we prefer your eggs, your eggs are the best,” Takaki said.

For now, Mark is still trying to get the word out about what he and his farm are doing, and what it could do for Hawaii.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
Emil Muroka lives for the catch. He gets up at 8am and is out the door with his fishing gear in tow, ready to spend countless hours at his favorite fishing spot.

“I fish for passion, I fish for excitement, I fish for my own joy,” said senior Emil Muroka. As a recreational fisherman, Emil fishes as a hobby and a way to keep busy during his free time. Others, like Eileen Bebeau, have a different reason.

“It started out recreational and you kinda get hooked on it so we do it quite often now commercially and we supply the market in this area,” said commercial fisher Eileen Bebeau. Both Emil and Eileen rely on fishing, something that might not be around in the next thirty years.

According to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 3/4 of the world’s fish stocks are overexploited. This overexploitation creates countless changes to the ocean’s environment, as well as those who fish in it.

Bebeau said, ”there is a difference when we fish, it’s already showed a decline from 30 years ago. We used to catch 6-7 ahi in a couple hours fishing close to shore and you can’t do that anymore."

In thirty more years, the changes will follow the same trend unless something is done to cut the line of overfishing. If nothing is done to balance the ocean’s sensitive environment, the world’s fish stocks will be depleted by 2048, according to a journal in Science Magazine. The drastic changes from thirty years ago give fishers an idea of what thirty more years of overexploiting fish populations could do.

“If I couldn’t fish anymore, I don’t know what I would do. It’s something I can’t even imagine. I would be lost.” said Muraoka. The instability of the ocean’s future causes concern but it does not have to be a fear of the unknown.

Department of Land and Natural Resources Director WIlliam Aila said, “What you wanna do is manage the amount of fish that get taken out in a relative ratio so that balance continues to exist. When you have balance, you’re not overharvesting and the environment is at its optimum potential.”

As the scales of the fish population are balanced, fishing as a lifestyle, or even a hobby, becomes more secured.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
December 3rd, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii

“A dream’s never too big, and in the end, it’s only you,” said Esteban Vilchez. “It’s you who has to decide what you want to be, what you need, what you what to do in life, because it’s you that’s gonna be your spine, your backbone. You need to think, is this gonna make me happy? Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?”

Wai’anae High School has, roughly, a 30-percent dropout rate. In his junior year, Esteban Vilchez became part of that statistic that dropped-out of Wai’anae High.

“The reason I left public school is to further my education and exceed in what I needed for my courses, and just for everything, so I can get ready for college,” said Esteban. “I really wanted AP Sciences- like AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics. I guess that I was skeptical, afraid that I wouldn't get enough information from Wai`anae High School.”

WHS offers a total of five Advanced Placement classes: two AP Literature and Composition, two AP Language and Composition, and one AP Calculus class. WHS Counselor Shane Nakamura said that Wai’anae High does not offer more AP classes because resources are being assigned to teach repeat classes for those that failed that specific class. But for those at WHS that want to be challenged in another way, there are other means.

“There is this program called Running Start. In Running Start, you can earn dual credit, high school and college credit," said Nakamura. "You can challenge yourself a lot. Last school year we started it off, we offered one English 100 class, so that was pretty innovative."

After Esteban left the public school system, he enrolled into Orion High School. Orion is an online schooling program that is accredited by Advanced Education. Orion is also an accepted schooling by Esteban’s goal college, John Hopkins University, which has one of the top education programs that Esteban feels he needs to achieve his goal career.

“At first I wanted to become a teacher, then an actor, and a architect,” said Esteban. “I decided I wanted to be a Biomedical Engineering just the science of it... I would study Biomedical Engineering to help the world, make a change and cure diseases.”

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 1st, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii



“I would say we serve about 1000 to 2000 families a month."

The Honolulu Community Action Program of the Leeward District provides support for the citizens of Wai`anae. The organization’s philosophy is all about self support.

“Cause everybody needs some kind of safety net in terms of what they need,” Head Manager of Leeward H.C.A.P, Val Taiva explains.

Not only is there the food event, that can help Wai`anae citizens. But also things like helping with taxes, getting an idea for better education and qualifying for bill credits.

In a month, they host different local events that low-income citizens of the Wai`anae coast can benefit from now and in the future. One event in particular, is the distribution of food which is a common issue for residents which is sponsored by the Hawaii Food Bank.

The Hawaii Food Bank is a nonprofit agency that collects, categorizes and stores perishable and nonperishable foods. Their mission is to serve and help the people of Hawaii, as they see everyone as one ohana and provide food to keep the ohana satisfied and never hungry.

It’s through the different charitable organizations, where the Hawaii Food Bank helps to sponsor food. One of the many 250 member agencies is H.C.A.P, where the event is hosted at Wai`anae Boat Harbor on the last two Tuesdays.

“Cause a lot of times food stamps don't really last the whole month and depends on what size your family is. So a lot of folks actually need food in Wai`anae,” Taiva explained.

“From the food I have money to pay the bills,” Sose Sosene said.

That is where the truth of Wai`anae’s poverty rate comes in line. Statistics from www.hawaii-demographics.com states in 2011, the percentage of poverty residents from Wai`anae is 15.6% compared to the rest of island. With that percentage being below, families from Wai`anae show a great turn out during the food events, thanks to the sponsor of Hawaii Food Bank each month. H.C.A.P doesn’t stop there as they want to keep helping people with getting their life on track.

“We do a lot of holiday projects, so its holidays coming up we do a lot of christmas projects for the homeless, for families in need,” Taiva informs.

The H.C.A.P won’t be stopping soon, as they been going on for 45 years and counting. With the start back in the 60s with the war in poverty.

In all, the Honolulu Community Action Program of the Leeward District gives the citizens of Wai`anae a chance hope taken for the better life.

“I’m happy, I’m happy with what I get, I appreciate what food I get,” Sosene said.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
October 28th, 2013

Wai'anae, Hawaii During summer vacation, Leina Panui is truly living in the present, taking care of family members, hanging with friends and going out to restaurants, with the approaching school year just a dream away. Although the upcoming freshman is hardly the quiet type, the idea of school has made her “nervous,” especially since she may be going to a new one.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Kamehameha,” Leina said.

Two hundred and forty high school students applied to the Oahu campus of Kamehameha this year, a private school for Native Hawaiian students. Sitting on a 600-acre hillside, it hosts less than 4,000 students from K-12. On the Leeward coast, only 13 boys and 13 girls were accepted, including Leina. Though she received the boarding pass to attend, there is a major roadblock to her destination. The average tuition for Kamehameha is $17,000.

“It may be one of the cheapest private schools, but with my two older siblings in college it’s kind of hard on my parents,” Leina said.

To help Native Hawaiian students afford attending Kamehameha, the school evaluates the family’s financial situation, and determines how much financial aid they could receive. Students may receive tuition support that covers partial costs up to full coverage of financial need.

“I told her that she was only going to go if she got the financial aid,” Ka`ai Panui, her mother, said.

Most financial aid recipients received their news by early May or late June. However, come July, Leina and her family were still waiting, thus putting even more distance between Leina and her goal.

“If nothing happens I would have to go to Wai’anae. It’s not a bad school but I’ve wanted to go to Kamehameha since elementary,” Leina said.

Then finally, on July 15, Leina found her future, written in the form of a letter.

“We were really lucky to get the financial aid that covers the whole thing,” her mother said, “I told her I was going to take a second job just to get her there, but overall we are really grateful.”

Excitement and possibility are in the air for Leina, since her expensive dreams have finally become a priceless reality - See more at: http://kaleoowaianae.weebly.com/priceless-reality.html#sthash.Id3W7tN5.dpuf