MidWeek » Newsmakers

Chris Fleck

Na Koa Football Club supports the UH football team beyond funds received from the university. And with a new coach, new members also are needed

The reason those top tier college football teams – the Alabamas, Ohio States, even the boys from Boise – are in the top 25 rankings each year has as much to do with their play as it does with the support they receive on and off the field.

Brought in to fulfill the supplemental needs each player deserves as a scholarship member of the UH Warrior football team, Na Koa Football Club executive director Kim Fujiuchi finds her position thrilling, and is embracing her first six months on the job and looking forward all the time.

“I never thought fundraising would be my real job. The past eight to 10 years I have been involved in charity work. This seemed like a neat way to put together the fundraising I had been doing as a volunteer with my passion for football,” says Fujiuchi, who since 2004 has worked on a volunteer basis as chairwoman of the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Charity Angels, helping to raise close to $500,000 for the bowl game’s charities. Coming into her position, high on Fujiuchi’s to-do list was giving fans and the public a better understanding of what Na Koa Football Club does, and why it is important to donate and support a football team the fans want to see excel each season.

“One of our major initiatives is to really educate the public about the difference between Na Koa and other clubs like Ahahui Koa Anuenue (UH’s official athletic fundraising organization). When you buy tickets to football games, you’ve supported the athletic department, which is great, but you have not necessarily directly supported the football program,” Fujiuchi says.

As a numbers-based booster organization, Na Koa is tasked with the responsibilities of raising funds for all of the expenses that cannot be supported through the university and athletic department’s budget. One of the major costs that Na Koa works to finance is tuition for summer school, an area of high importance for new football head coach Norm Chow.

“Student athletics is an opportunity to play sports, but it more importantly is to ensure these players get a good education. It is one of the largest projects we undertake to support the football team,” says Fujiuchi. “It keeps players eligible, helps them graduate on time, and now the NCAA is really measuring everyone on graduation rates and academic process. Summer school is almost a quarter of a million dollars, and most comes from the Waterhouse Charitable Trust, but Na Koa is tasked with raising the rest, which can be $70,000 to $80,000 per year.”

As a football-specific booster club, Na Koa hosts a variety of events to raise money and awareness about the football program and the club. They want the community to have a relationship with the coaches and players. This past February, Na Koa coordinated a National Letter of Intent Signing Day Dinner, which not only introduced fans to Coach Chow and his staff, but also gave them an in-depth look at high school players who have committed to playing for the Warriors.

“For the die-hard football junkies, this is where you get the scoop on these new kids. It was a great success and should become one of our pillar events,” adds Fujiuchi, who has been a UH football season ticket-holder for more than 10 years.

Other projects Na Koa has been coordinating to help the cause include its annual Ed Wong Golf Tournament, a new mailing campaign that started this past December that raised close to $6,000, as well as its upcoming telethon, titled Na Koa Presents: An Evening with Coach Chow and His Staff: Let’s Do This Together, which will air April 18 from 7 to 10 p.m. on KFVE.

“This telethon should stir a buzz about Coach Chow and all these guys who have gone out, done great things and have now come home,” says Fujiuchi. “We want this to be very interactive and conversational. Fans will be able to call in, ask questions and donate. We’ll have former players manning the phones too.”

Seeking to broaden the Na Koa membership beyond the already dedicated fan, Fujiuchi and Na Koa volunteers are creating plans to get younger generations and women more involved with the state of their Warrior football nation.

“We are working toward raising $1.25 million in the next two years. I am one of those goal-oriented people who wants to have it done yesterday, but the reality is we have to put things in place, making sure we are as efficient as possible,” says Fujiuchi, who wants to effectively turn people’s passion for football into support for the team.

Membership fees as a Na Koa supporter start at $20 as a Kako’o member and can be topped off at $5,000 as an Ali’i Chief member.

For more information about Na Koa or how to become a member, visit nakoa.org.

Bottom line: If you want to run with the top Tides, Buckeyes or Broncos each year, it’s going to take more than enthusiastic post-touchdown applause.

Fan Support Helps UH Football Succeed

Nicole Kato

Rabbits come in all sizes and colors, and enthusiasts say they’re great pets. Many will be displayed at the upcoming Pet Expo. We’re all ears

Rabbit lovers will be ecstatic to know that there’s a group of folks who shares a common love of rabbits and promote purebred rabbits while supporting those with interests in owning them as pets.

The Hawaii All-Breed Rabbit Club (THABRC), chartered by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA), was founded in 1986 to promote all aspects of raising and breeding pure-bred rabbits within the state. Although THABRC focuses on pure-bred rabbits, the club welcomes all pet owners.

The club offers a forum for rabbit raisers and breeders and provides opportunities to share with others in the group information about proper management techniques to keep rabbits healthy.

Very Hidden Valley Ranch rabbit breeder Noelle Sutherland of Wahiawa brought four of her pedigree Mini Rex rabbits to the home of Callman and Frances Au of Mililani. The Aus are long-time members and organizers of the Kunia Orchid Society, and their grandchildren Jasmine (9) and Aaron (2) Abe enjoy playing with rabbits.

At first they were wary of the fast-running creatures, but soon felt at home feeding grass and non-poisonous weeds to the bunnies.

Rather than giving their rabbits pet names, breeders tattoo a series of numbers and/or letters on the inside of the ear. This is equivalent to the micro-chipping of dogs and cats, and each bunny that will be displayed at a rabbit show needs this identification.

The numbers and letters reflect information such as the sex, parents, color or birth weight.

But for those wishing to keep rabbits as pets, Floppy and Thumper work just fine as names.

Jasmine named the four Mini Rex rabbits herself. Spotty the broken black (black and white) rabbit, Summer Girl the broken tortoise (brown and white) rabbit, Licorice the black rabbit, and Cocoa the chocolate rabbit were all friendly companions for the children. The broken tortoise and broken black colors partner white with any color of patches or spots.

“They’re my favorite animal,” Jasmine said as she petted Summer Girl, the broken tortoise-colored rabbit. “They bounce around, and they’re cute with their big ears.”

Mini Rex rabbits weigh between three and five pounds and are known for their plush, velvety fur, and its relatively small size and cat-like ability to clean themselves makes it an ideal pet for children.

Most rabbit breeders recommend that children be age 6 or older before receiving rabbits as pets. Sutherland’s mantra is, “No bunnies for babies.” This is because small breeds are very delicate, and all rabbits often love to kick with their back feet, which could result in scratches.

Sutherland, who has been raising rabbits for 30 years, also recommends bigger breeds for children because they are too big for the children to pick up. “They can just pet them,” she says.

When a rabbit is scared, the whites of its eyes will show, but none of the rabbits Jasmine and Aaron played with showed any sign of fear. Sutherland provided large cages for the rabbits and children to play in – this prevents the rabbits from scurrying away.

THABRC members include adults and children, ranging from single pet owners to breeders who specialize in fancy, wool and meat-producing type rabbits, and members also hold informational and project meetings quarterly around the island. There are all-breed ARBA-sanctioned shows annually on the various islands.

The annual Pet Expo is coming up May 12 and 13 at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall, and THABRC will have a booth with more than 20 breeds of bunnies big and small, as well as guinea pigs.

THABRC president Sandy Tsukiyama will be bringing her Flemish Giant rabbit, which weighs about 20 pounds. Flemish Giants, the largest breed of domestic rabbit, have a minimum approximate weight of 14 pounds. On the flip side, the Netherland Dwarf rabbit averages about 2-and-a-half pounds.

Tsukiyama was a long-time special education teacher at Roosevelt High School and used her rabbits as Animal Assisted Therapy. She found the presence and petting of rabbits to have a calming influence on some of the excitable special education students.

THABRC members are available for rabbit care and breed presentations and participate in events throughout the year during displays at the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Society’s Pet Expo and the Church of the Crossroads’ Fall Fair in November.

For more information or to coordinate a presentation call 227-7258 or 342-2617, or visit sites.google.com/site/hawaiiallbreedrabbitclub.

Hopped Up For A Bunny Hobby

Carol Chang

How a former high school dropout became an urban planner helping change how we grow our own food and how our youths look at the potential within themselves

Kamuela Enos strolls the grounds of MA’O Farms speaking of uplifting, enabling and mentoring. And he doesn’t mean vegetables. This fertile organic farm in Lualualei Valley is likely the only one in the state to employ a social enterprise director, and he’s it.

“I apologize for being all jazzed up about this,” he says, “but what you get from MA’O is a sense of joy, and like a wife giving birth – you earn your joy.” Enos does have a wife, Miwa Tamanaha, and a 3-year-old, plus another on the way, so he knows.

The past two years have been especially gratifying. His appointment to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders has definitely opened doors and brought MA’O's 11-year-old Waianae experiment into the national spotlight. After all, the 24-acre farm now boasts $650,000 in annual sales and is managed by student interns who have come up through the farm’s rigorous youth leadership training program that Enos oversees.

Optimism at UH-West Oahu has stirred further ideas about hands-on agro-ecology on the new campus for student interns balancing college with farm work. And a new partnership has taken off with MA’O, Searider Productions and its digital media whiz-kid grads (and powerful storytellers) at Makaha Studios. Enos predicts that the Kauhale ‘O Wai’anae venture – where he also directs social enterprise – should generate even more upward pathways for Waianae High graduates to walk.

It brings the talents of the video youths and the farm youths together to support each other in pursuit of higher ed and job internships. One example is their spring film nights – from 5 to 8 p.m. April 28 and May 19 at the farm’s outdoor amphitheater. The $20 admission ($10 for keiki) comes with an organic dinner, a screening and a talk story with directors and cast members: April 28 is Papa Mau, The Wayfinder and May 19 is Ingredients Hawaii. Proceeds support the group’s planned cultural exchange trip to New Zealand. (For tickets, call 696-5569 or email info@maoorganicfarms.org). See what 2012 farming is all about while munching some fresh arugula and kale salad.

“We don’t aim for new jobs – like when you wear a hard hat and guard a dump at 3 a.m,” points out Enos, who has worked at MA’O (Mala ‘Ai ‘Opio: “youth garden”) for four years. Local economic development is the key, he says, but the kind that creates meaningful jobs for young adults, and that are in sync with the best farming and conservation practices of their Hawaiian ancestors.

MA’O, he says, aims to raise up Waianae’s youths “so they stay out of the first five minutes of the TV newscast.” So far, it’s working, with West side high school graduates continuing to sign up and complete the farm’s two-and-a-half-year program of ag work, community college degree support and real-life money management.

“We’ve built a lot of sticks and carrots into it,” he explains. “If they flunk a class, they pay us back, and it’s three strikes and you’re out.” There was no welfare system in old Hawaiian society either, he notes. “Bad things happened to slackers.”

Enos himself, who is half Hawaiian, dropped out of Waianae High School, eventually earning his GED, his bachelor’s in Hawaiian studies and finally his master’s in urban and regional planning from UH-Manoa.

“I wish I could go back and whip my sorry 17-year-old (butt),” says Enos, now 38 and living in Waipio. But the consequence of that mistake was enlightening. “It was my professional development period: I realized what was out there for a high school dropout – nothing.”

All of which qualifies him for what he’s doing now. He’s an example of how anything is possible, even for a dropout. Humility helps, too. “Mostly now my job is to sit down and talk to people,” he says, while sitting and talking to a reporter.

“We’re not just a farm anymore,” he adds. Enos grew up on his family’s Kaala Farm, which also mentors youths and is still going strong. “But my dad (Eric) says you can no longer defend your farm from your farm.”

So Enos has taken the banner for sustainable island agriculture to Washington, D.C., and to West Coast college campuses in his capacity as a commissioner. And, thanks to the track record laid by MA’O Farms’ founders, Gary and Kukui Maunakea-Forth, the White House came to MA’O in November during APEC.

“They approached us,” he recalls, “and it just affirmed all of the work before that we were able to craft into our programs.”

First lady Michelle Obama visited MA’O for a lively dialogue – farmer to farmer – about getting everyone to eat more vegetables and staying the course for changing America’s eating habits. After all, she harvests about 2,000 pounds of produce a year from the White House’s backyard garden, and she comes from poverty on Chicago’s South Side.

Enos saw his interns step up and “learn to be comfortable speaking to power” that proud day, and they continue to stay in touch with “Auntie Michelle.” MA’O also grows activists like Uilani Arasato, 19, who has testified – in slam poetry style – on ag zoning issues that affect the Waianae Coast.

“The councilmembers were all shock and awe after I finished,” Arasato recalls, taking a break from washing produce. “I get my point across.”

Meanwhile, as a first-year intern, she realizes that MA’O is growing on her. “We’re creating something huge that’s gonna happen,” she says, “plus I’ve been getting into a healthy lifestyle without even knowing it.”

For more about the green ways of Waianae, check out maoorganicfarms.org.

Waianae Farmer In The National Spotlight

Chris Fleck

Sen. Brickwood Galuteria’s experience with his own mother led him to enlist the aid of two musical seniors to create Saturday’s Kupuna Day

Respect, consultation and homage for our kupuna are not demanded, but are traits that should be naturally upheld, passed to generations ahead, always having a place regardless of societal or cultural change.

Becoming kupuna is a life process that is earned through exactly that: living. Significant decisions in Hawaii, as well as many other cultural histories, were not made until honored elders were consulted. It is a respect for life and the experiences that shape wisdom and dexterity. In our modern era, that respect begins with information and education about resources that help strengthen our seniors’ continued living experience, which should be accessible, easily available and powerful.

This Saturday (April 21) from 9 to 11 a.m. Kupuna Power – a free empowerment session held at the State Capitol Rotunda organized and hosted by state Sen. Brickwood Galuteria, his colleagues and friends – strives to engage our kupuna in a morning of education, entertainment, exercise and awareness.

“Knowledge and experience come from pride in being who you are. Teaching the kupuna that, ‘Hey, I may be 85, but still have something that is revered,’” says entertainer Jimmy Borges, himself a young 76-year-old.

Kupuna Power was initiated after a conversation longtime entertainer and now lawmaker Galuteria had with his 82-year-old mother about preparing for the future, and trying to understand what health and lifestyle resources are available to elders and those approaching senior status.

“The conversation with my mother made us realize how little we knew about what is out there in terms of needs for our kupuna,” says Galuteria.

Working with state, city and private senior advocates, Galuteria has assembled a top-notch and enthusiastic team to get the first Kupuna Power day off the ground. This list of advocates includes Waikiki Health Center director Aunty Francine Dutoit-Tagupa, who was able to coordinate participation with nearly 25 senior-focused vendors. Hawaii’s own legendary singer and dynamite kupuna Marlene Sai has been tapped as the poster child for Kupuna Power.

“I never thought the day would come when I would be called kupuna, but I’ll tell you the first time I got that discount at the movies I was so excited,” Sai says with a laugh. “I’ve learned a lot since Brick asked me to get involved. I embrace it. I went to find out more about being kupuna and can’t wait to share that knowledge. Everyone has been so excited and accommodating,” adds Sai, who not only introduced Galuteria to the world of show business when he was just 18, but also works in the senator’s office as a legislative assistant.

Kupuna Power will start in a traditional manner with a morning pule, or prayer, followed by a march by McKinley High School Color Guard. Borges will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and venerated respect will be summoned by Sai’s Hawaii Pono’i. A mixed bag of information and entertainment will weave the session together with presentations by representatives from the city’s Elderly Affairs Division on topics such as Medicaid, Medicare and long-term insurance options. To get everyone’s heart rate going a bit, there will be stretching led by the adult fitness program Silver Sneakers, as well as an introduction to Zumba Gold taught by certified instructor and state Sen. Pohai Ryan. Former radio host Lanai Tabura also will share tips on identity theft protection.

Of course, with three of Hawaii’s finest singers organizing Kupuna Power, they are bound to share a few songs with the crowd, so expect to hear the melodies of Sai, Borges and Galuteria coming together throughout the session, as well as a surprise comedic guest, who will spend time giving the crowd a little comic relief.

With the elderly population – people 60-plus years of age – expected to rise from 18 percent of Hawaii’s population in 2004 to more than 25 percent by 2030, it’s essential for our entire community to be involved and engaged with matters of sustaining the life process.

“Marlene and I represent kupuna, but we’re still functional, we’re still out there doing our thing,” says Borges. “Even if you’re in a wheelchair, it is your mind that is still working, and you can always do something, always be a positive role model.”

Kupuna Power invites all kupuna or family and friends of kupuna, and those who are simply interested in checking out what may be available as they get older.

Each stage of life should be eventful, enriching and taken advantage of, and Kupuna Power is a two-hour session of exactly that.

A Day To Inform And Celebrate Kupuna

Christina O’Connor

The new CEO of the YWCA of Oahu wants to make it an ‘organization that is leading a women’s movement and making a difference’

In the late 1990s, local girl Kimberly Miyazawa Frank was working as a development officer at Miami University, her undergraduate alma mater, in Oxford, Ohio. At one potential-donor reception, Frank was chatting with an older woman when suddenly, the woman asked her a question that she often got living in the Midwest.

“What are you?” the woman asked.

Frank was a lot of things. Only in her early 30s at the time, she was a lawyer turned fundraising officer and a volunteer at various community organizations. But the woman wasn’t interested in any of that. No, the woman attempted to explain, she wanted to know what Frank was – like how she could trace her ancestors back to when they arrived on the Mayflower. Frank explained that she was Japanese-American.

The woman seemed astounded, and her response was one that Frank will never forget: “Wow, you’re so smart and articulate. And you don’t even have slanted eyes.”

Frank was confused and unsure of how to respond. But she wasn’t all that shocked. After spending much of her adult life living and working in places that were predominantly white, Frank had become familiar with these types of inquiries. And earlier in her career, as a lawyer at a Cincinnati law firm, Frank often was the only woman in many professional settings.

Today, as the newly appointed CEO of the YWCA of Oahu, Frank is working to expand the organization’s programs and increase its advocacy efforts. The mission of the YWCA is “eliminating racism, empowering women.” After years of experiencing firsthand the effects of both gender and racial discrimination, Frank is striving to address such injustices and work toward equality for women and people of color. “I really see the YWCA as not a building or just a provider of services, but really as an organization that is leading a women’s movement and making a difference in our community,” Frank says.

Established in 1900 and currently comprised of about 3,000 members, the YWCA of Oahu is the oldest and largest women’s organization in the state. It consists of three facilities: Laniakea in town, Fernhurst in Makiki and Kokokahi in Kaneohe. It is one of nearly 300 affiliates of the national organization. Worldwide, YWCA has more than 25 million members in 122 countries. Locally, it was originally designed to be a place where women could find encouragement and support, take classes or simply relax. Throughout the years, YWCA has been steadily expanding its services and programs to meet emerging issues women face.

Today, it offers programs that focus on job training, economic self-sufficiency and physical well-being. In addition, YWCA provides something for women in the larger scope of things – an entity that fights for social justice. Under Frank’s leadership, it aims to increase its impact in this wider realm. It seems the YWCA is standing on the cusp of what could be a new era.

“I see this as a time when we are positioned to be able to make an even bigger impact in our community by addressing some of these more contemporary issues, for marginalized populations, as well as for our career-based women,” says Frank, who is married and has three young children.

Existing programs include Dress for Success, which provides donated business attire for women who are looking for work – along with individualized sessions that cover other aspects that could help them land a job, including interviewing skills and resume-writing tips.

Another program that helps women achieve economic self-sufficiency is Homebase, which provides temporary housing for women in transition – including those coming out of a domestic violence situation or incarceration – at the Fernhurst facility.

YWCA also offers a range of health and wellness courses, including swimming, tai chi and Zumba, as well as leadership-development classes designed for women in the workplace.

One of the key things that Frank is hoping to do is expand the organization’s advocacy work. When she started as CEO in January, working with various policy issues in the 2012 legislative session was one of the first things on her agenda.

“Advocacy helps us to increase our impact beyond the walls of the organization,” Frank says.

YWCA addresses various policy areas, including economic empowerment, health and safety, and racial justice and civil rights through educational programs and research. The organization also supports and submits testimony for bills or resolutions that go before the Legislature. In the current session, YWCA is working with policies that deal with disparate impact of women when it comes to issues such as workplace inequality and threats to healthcare.

“Unfortunately, a lot of these issues are not new issues,” Frank says. “They are issues that historically have been around, but they still persist.”

The organization also is working to add new programs. Frank envisions one program that will address the needs of working women at various stages in their careers – from the entry-level worker to upper-level management – and all of the transitions in between. YWCA hopes to extend that outreach to younger girls by initiating a new youth network that fosters leadership development and features discussions on topics relevant to teenage girls today. It also is researching the incidence of human trafficking and the well-being of female veterans – two issues that Frank says are becoming increasingly visible – with the hope of designing programs to address these problems.

“I see great things for this organization,” Frank says, adding that the YWCA also is beginning to foster relationships with other organizations. “I am just so excited, and honored, really, to be a part of it.”

Frank was born and raised in the Islands, graduated from St. Andrew’s Priory and moved to the Mainland to attend college. She went on to study law in New Jersey, and after earning her J.D., worked at a Cincinnati law firm for several years. There, one of her mentors recommended that she get involved with community service as a way to build her practice. But what started as side work, which often focused on gender and racial equality, soon turned into much more.

“I realized in my service and advocacy work that I found greater satisfaction in doing that work than practicing law,” she says.

Seeking a change, Frank worked in development at Miami, then as a consultant for various firms. Her work took her all over the country – from coast to coast, and various Midwestern towns – until a position opened for an organizational development manager in Hawaii. Then in 2006, Frank started her own consulting firm, which she managed until taking the position at YWCA.

As CEO, Frank is able to combine both her experience in fundraising and management with her passion to advocate for equal rights. Although she admits that facing gender and racial discrimination was sometimes challenging and hurtful, she credits those trying situations as being instrumental in shaping her understanding of discrimination, and subsequently, her passion to combat inequality.

Since taking the reins at YWCA, Frank has been busy. She jumped right into the legislative session and has been developing the organization’s new features. It’s the YWCA’s mission to empower women and eliminate racism that keeps her going.

“The goal for me is that the YWCA of Oahu would be an organization that is considered a go-to organization in those areas,” Frank explains.

“I think if we are able to measure the impact that we are making on community needs, (it will be) not just by numbers of women served, but perhaps the changes in the status, or the changes in their ability to get or keep full-time employment, get and keep permanent housing,” she says. “Those are the kinds of outcomes we are interested in achieving – how do we actually improve the status of women.”

New Leader, Energy At The YWCA

Susan Kang Sunderland

Thanks to relentless work by friend Benjamin Ishida, Airman Albert Kalahana Kuewa’s name is finally inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

So, as you stand there weeping with your fingers on my name

Share with those cute grandkids the reason for this place

To restore some stolen gratitude and dignity

This granite wall of honor that holds my memory. -Lyrics from The Wall Song

Wahiawa resident Benjamin Ishida is traveling nearly 5,000 miles on Memorial Day to face a wall. No, this isn’t some sort of punishment. It’s a moment of truth for a Vietnam veteran who fought a personal battle for 46 years on behalf of a buddy.

Ishida, 68, is making a pilgrimage to see the name of his Waialua High School classmate and Navy buddy, Airman Albert Kalahana Kuewa, finally inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. He will see it newly imprinted on the black granite wall at Panel O1E, Line 063, one of 58,000 names of fallen heroes.

A day before the ceremony in the nation’s Capitol, Ishida will witness Kuewa being honored at the Waialua Lions Club 65th Memorial Day program at Haleiwa Beach Park. The program will feature a special and belated recognition of Airman Kuewa as his name is unveiled on the Lions’ Vietnam heroes plaque.

Both occasions will undoubtedly be emotional moments for Ishida.

Why did it take so long for Kuewa’s name to appear on the national and local monuments? Was there a miscarriage of military process, botched bureaucracy, or sheer neglect that caused this oversight?

More importantly, what in the human spirit causes a man like Ishida to pursue a mission so relentlessly for nearly five decades?

“I promised my friend before I die, I going figure this thing out,” Ishida says as he recalls a pledge to get Kuewa recognized for his sacrifice in the line of duty.

Ishida was on crash crew duty the fateful night of Sept. 18, 1964, when Kuewa died on board the USS Ranger in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam. The carrier was conducting air reconnaissance missions over Laos, sustained for 12 hours daily, from noon to midnight.

“Kuewa worked on the flight deck,” Ishida recalls, “the worst job.”

It was an open arena to danger and combat fire, he explains. Kuewa was hit by a moving plane while in support of a mission in North Vietnam.

But the carrier log stated otherwise. Kuewa, it recorded, died after walking into a plane’s propeller while the carrier was idle.

“What a lie,” Ishida says.

As reported by KHONTV News, it turns out there were two logs and their mission was classified.

After bringing Kuewa’s body home and learning of the conflicting reports in the military records, Ishida set out on a personal mission to get the U.S. Department of Defense to recognize Kuewa as a casualty of war.

That took many years of research, persistent communications with military and government officials, and valuable support from the office of U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.

The result is that, after 46 years, the Department of Defense has evaluated the circumstances of Kuewa’s death and approved having his name added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall for ceremonies on Memorial Day.

“I told Albert that I have to see you on the monument,” says Ishida, a construction company owner and retired City firefighter. “I checked all the monuments (including the Korean-Vietnam War Memorial at the Hawaii State Capitol). Never had his name. That’s when I went to Akaka’s office.

“The thing I feel so bad about is that two days before (Kuewa died), I saw him by the crash locker. He told me he was tired, because he’s so big (6-foot-5, 270 pounds). I talked to the flight deck chief to move Albert from flight deck to crash crew. And then this thing wen happen,” he says remorsefully.

“I don’t want you to make me look like a hero,” Ishida tells this reporter. “That’s just the way I am. Nobody knew what I was doing all this time.”

Kuewa’s sister Grace confirms that.

“He carried the burden,” she says, “We are amazed that he did so much and can’t thank him enough.”

For others in the same situation, she implores, “Don’t give up.” What Ishida did for her brother – one of eight children and the youngest of four boys – is miraculous yet just.

It’s all the more noteworthy when one considers the still hotly debated public opinion about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. While Ishida’s agenda is not political by any means, it is one story among many of the Vietnam conflict, which history records as the largest American war with conscription (mandatory enlistment).

“We went into this thing with honor,” Ishida says.

Yet America’s failed intervention in Vietnam has left many emotional scars. For families like the Kuewas of Waialua, there are haunting memories of their brave son with no true closure.

Thanks to a devoted friend like Ishida, there are small triumphs along the way, like the long-overdue recognition of Albert Kuewa for his ultimate sacrifice in the line of public service.

Ishida expresses this plight with candor on a bronze holder encircling the floral vase at Kuewa’s Punchbowl gravesite. It states, “It Took 46 Years Too Long. Brother-Ben.”

Donations to offset travel expenses for Benjamin Ishida to Washington, D.C., can be sent to Billie Gabriel, 105-B Kawananakoa Place, Honolulu HI 96817.

A Reluctant Hero Goes To Washington

Chris Fleck

USPS mail carriers are calling for the community to help Stamp Out Hunger. This year’s food drive marks the 20th anniversary of the national program

You see them every day walking and driving through your neighborhoods. Some have been around to see your kids and families grow. You may have a friendly relationship with them, stopping each other once in awhile to say hello and talk story.

They’re our neighborhood mail carriers, and they work hard to deliver each precious and sometimes not so precious pieces of mail to our homes. This week these same mail carriers will carry on a tradition that is driven to help our neighbors who are having difficulty feeding themselves and their families.

The 20th annual National Association of Letter Carriers’ Food Drive takes place May 12, and the United States Postal Service and all its representatives are asking for help in an effort to “Stamp Out Hunger.” More than 240,000 mail carriers throughout the U.S. will lead this effort and pick up food donations. On Oahu, every pound of food will be given to Hawaii Foodbank and will be distributed to those in need on our island. Each of the Neighbor Islands also has a Stamp Out Hunger drive on the same day. Tallied as the nation’s largest one-day food drive, Stamp Out Hunger collected 70.2 million pounds of food last year alone, and more than 1 billion pounds have been collected during the course of its first 19 years. Across the state of Hawaii, mail carriers were able to collect 490,000 pounds of food items during last year’s drive.

Looking back on the first 19 years is mail carrier Bruce McDowell, who has been coordinating the food drive for its duration on Oahu.

“This drive took awhile. We used to get a lot of bad cans, a lot of rusty cans. It took us about four or five years before we got it down,” says McDowell, who will retire from USPS and move to Florida by the end of the year. What used to take close to three to four months of sorting has been meticulously condensed to a mere day or two. Much of the organizational credit has to be given to McDowell, as well as co-coordinators and fellow mail carriers Adele Yoshikawa and Wade Teraoka.

“We get people who come out to thank us personally. I remember speaking to a guy who just lost his job and I saw the look on his face. I said to my partner, ‘this is why we’re doing it,’” adds McDowell, who recalls spending weeks at a time in a warehouse on Sand Island sorting cans in the early years.

“There were cages and cages of food. You’d walk out of there covered in dirt. We’ve certainly changed over the years. Presorting started in our Wahiawa office. It took a couple of years, but now we’re able to sort the food in almost one night instead of months.”

As the food drive has grown exponentially over the past two decades, the help of volunteers has grown equally, which is an enormous help and shows how dedicated the community can be.

“Through the years we learned how to make things better. I remember I would-n’t go home until 9 or 10 p.m. some evenings from sorting. Now we’ve got volunteers from youth groups, high schools and different organizations, and we’re usually waiting for the last trucks to arrive to finish sorting,” says Yoshikawa, who has been a mail carrier for more than 13 years.

With an economy that has been struggling to pick itself up, the food drive has seen a slight decrease in donations the past few years, but for the carriers it’s a positive feeling to walk up to people’s homes and see cans and donations in the marked blue bags.

“It used to be about beating the previous year’s donations. Now, any donation, even if it’s one extra can, will help put another meal on the table – that’s the goal,” adds Yoshikawa.

On May 12 mail carriers will collect donations in USPS-issued bags that have been sent to residences. They encourage early donations and will accept them the week after for those who may forget to leave their donations on collection day. The most desired items include canned meats or tuna, canned meals, stew or spaghetti, canned soups and canned fruits and vegetables.

Caring is what has made the food drive as successful as it has been, and the same compassion will carry the drive each year possible.

“As long as we are in business, we’ll still be collecting,” says McDowell. “Unfortunately we can’t stamp out hunger for good, but we’re trying.”

Letter Carriers Deliver For The Hungry

Steve Murray

A conference later this month brings together an eclectic mix of speakers on faith, science, business and public service

Elizabeth Revley believes that when you boil down cultural and religious beliefs to their very essence, you come away with a universal truth – that we are all connected, that we come from a single source, and that to live a good life we all need to be in service of others. The co-producer and director, along with Roger Epstein, of Ho’omaika’ika’i, Voyage of Aloha, is bringing together an eclectic mix of speakers for a four-day conference on faith, science, business and public service.

Much of the seminar is based on the work of Joseph Campbell, a writer and lecturer who is perhaps most widely known for his work in comparative mythology and religion that led to his theory of interconnectivity among people.

“We are all connected, and we are connected by this one universal power,” says Revley. “If we were to pick one thing from this, it’s understanding that we are all connected and then living from that place of connection. Science calls it quarks, and different religions have different names for it, but we are doing both the science piece and the faith piece.”

In addition to Campbell’s work, the conference also will share the vision of Rinaldo Brutoco, the founder of the World Business Academy, who will speak about the need for businesses to be more conscious of their effect on the planet and society.

Call it new age doctrine, combined theology or ethical absolutism. Revley says labels don’t matter, it’s the message that’s important.

“It’s really important to our sustainability as a planet to become collaborative, to work together creatively, and to act in that way that all religions tell, which is that we are all connected, and to live a good life is to be in service.”

As often as she speaks about religion – including the idea that the conference came from an understanding of common religious beliefs – Revley points out that this is a nonreligious event.

If people find a religious connection to the information being presented and shared, that’s fine.

If not, that’s OK, too, because the main purpose of the conference is to create a collaborative experience on which the organization will build for future events.

“This conference is five-and 10-years’ long. It is an ongoing conversation about how each of us becomes more sustainable, and how we can live by our principles of being connected, being in service to one another, being collaborative. This is an ongoing learning process for everybody. It’s about how to be caretakers of the aloha spirit, how to send aloha around the world.”

Future events will occur locally and online, weekly or monthly, or in other ways recommended by attendees.

To provide a specific Hawaiian aspect to the conference, organizers have invited M. Kauila Clark, a traditional educator and a member of the board of directors of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. Among other topics, Clark will help lead discussions on native Hawaiian spirituality and the power of aloha. He also will lead a sunrise service on the beach May 26.

Other speakers include Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, a biologist, author, futurist and former MIT professor; Sister Joan Chatfield, a Maryknoll sister and executive director of the Institute for Religion and Social Change; Duane Preble, professor emeritus of art at UH-Manoa, and Robert Walker, the executive director and board president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation.

The conference runs May 25-28 at the Pagoda Hotel.

Tickets for the conference cost $295 for kamaaina. Admission to both the conference and retreat is $695.

For more information, and a complete list of speakers, go to voyageofaloha.com.

Emphasizing Our Interconnectivity

Alana Folen

Founded by Queen Emma for girls at a time when educational opportunities were rare, St. Andrew’s Priory today sends 100 percent of grads to college

As the longest-standing school for girls in Hawaii, St. Andrew’s Priory School educates, cultivates and molds promising girls into women ready to take on the world. This year, the K to 12 college-preparatory school celebrates 145 years of continued excellence and preserving the Queen’s legacy.

“Queen Emma Kaleleonalani, wife of King Kamehameha IV, founded the Priory May 30, 1867, at a time when there were no formal education options for young women. Unless you were a missionary girl or of ali’i families, you had to find your own educational opportunities,” says head of school Sandra Theunick.

“Queen Emma was a courageous woman, and she envisioned Hawaii would need educated women to take Hawaii forward.”

Starting in 1902, under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church of the United States, St. Andrew’s Priory was run by the Sisters of the American Order of the Transfiguration until 1969, when the school extended its leadership responsibilities to a head of school.

“Queen Emma was a world traveler, she was not somebody to stay home,” Theunick says of the sophisticated queen who often traveled abroad to Europe and visited Queen Victoria several times during her reign.

“And even after her husband and son passed away, Queen Emma went back to Europe and England to find teachers and money to found the Priory,” says Theunick.

Fast forward to today. What once began as a boarding school for close to 10 girls studying basic courses such as English, Hawaiian, mathematics and nursing is now a driving force centered in the hub of downtown Honolulu, where its students are exposed to a rich academic curriculum and 100 percent of its girls are college-bound.

In fact, according to Theunick, last year’s entire graduating class attended four-year colleges and universities.

“The walls of the classroom are definitely expanding,” she says. “Maori King Tuheitia and his wife Madame Atawhai recently visited the school, which is a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we are really starting to take advantage of our location. The Priory is literally footsteps away from any learning opportunity that a girl may want to have – be it in medicine, in the arts, in politics, in certain kinds of business or banking.

“Right now we are working really hard on a program called Priory in the City, which we hope to launch in August 2013, and it will become an intricate part of our program for grades 10-12, where our students will begin by learning about the city, government sector, profit-making sector, nonprofit-making sectors, etc., and then actually begin working in these sectors,” Theunick explains. “By the time they’re seniors, they will have real work internships.”

With a current enrollment of nearly 400 students (not including the 150 keiki attending Queen Emma Preschool), St. Andrew’s Priory is small enough to be personal, but big enough to be powerful.

“We can take a girl, and if she wants to be a rocket scientist, journalist or singer, we can figure out a way to get her there,” Theunick says.

Throughout the years, St. Andrew’s Priory School has educated thousands of Hawaii’s women who have taken their place at the table as leaders and contributing members of society here in the Islands and abroad. Such distinguished alumni include U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and YWCA of Oahu CEO Kimberly Miyazawa Frank, among others.

“Here at the Priory, no girl falls through the cracks, every girl is focused on. Everyone has a job to do in life, and we’re going to help you figure out what that is and help you learn how to do it,” Theunick states. “We’re all part of a world community. We try to get our students to focus on who they’re called to be. That sense of personal honesty and integrity about what you have to bring to the world is important.”

The Priory’s core values are steeped in embracing diversity. Whether it’s ethnic, socio-economic or religious diversity, every girl is able to define herself and feel comfortable in her own skin.

The school motto, “kulia i ka nuu,” or strive for the highest, evokes an understanding that anything is possible.

“When a girl leaves here I want her to know that she’ll always have a choice – she will never be a victim. She has the personal power to change her world if she needs to,” Theunick says with a smile.

“She can choose to be whatever she wants to be and she has the power to control that.”

Forming Female Leaders Of The Future

Chad Pata

Keoni Chang knows what local folks like to eat. Nathalie Walker photo nwalker@midweek.com

Foodland corporate chef Keoni Chang took his talents to Dallas for the first Supermarket Chef Showdown, and came home as the grand champion

Gone are the days when a greasy chicken katsu bento or a plastic-wrapped Spam musubi make up the ready-to-eat aisle at the local supermarket. Now there are gourmet salad stations, hand-tossed pizzas and delis with multitudes of meats and cheeses.

The world has changed, and foreseeing this Foodland went outside the usual grocer circles to find a man to lead its evolution. In 2004 it brought on Keoni Chang, a local boy who cut his teeth by spending four years cooking on the line at the world-famous five-star resort The Greenbrier in West Virginia.

“My training was how to get the most expensive ingredients from the kitchen to the table in 30 seconds,” says Chang, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools and Kapiolani Community College before going on to receive his bachelor’s from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. “Now I am trying to create something with a broad enough mass appeal while still being unique, and then also making it so that it can sit in the case for four hours and still taste like it was just made.”

This blending has brought locals such favorites as Portuguese sausage and corn meatloaf, and seared salmon in a sweet chili glaze, and has now brought Foodland nationwide fame as Chang has been crowned “Grand Chef” for winning the inaugural Supermarket Chef Showdown held by the Food Marketing Institute in Dallas.

The competition drew more than 150 chefs from around the country who submitted 357 recipes in four categories: Indulgent, Family Meals, Healthy Alternatives and Ethnic. Best in show went to Chang for his Deconstructed Ahi California Roll, which is his take on the most famous sushi roll of all rebuilt as a tower of rice, seared ahi, avocado and crab surrounded by a Sriracha mayo and sprinkled with shredded nori.

His win netted him admittance to the professional development course at his alma mater, the CIA, and a two-year reign as the Grand Chef of the supermarket universe. But while the winning was nice, it was the thrill of the competition that Chang took away from the experience.

“I enjoyed the showdown because it has been a while since I got my adrenaline fix,” says Chang, who relishes the memories of putting out 1,200 dinners in an evening during his years in West Virginia. “Being on the line is such a rush, standing there doing nothing, then everyone wants dinner at the same time, then nothing. I didn’t think I would miss it while I was doing it, but I do miss it now.”

There is not much standing over a grill these days, with the exception of his cooking at home. His expertise is more sought in advising culinary direction and streamlining the process of getting the freshest products to his customers.

The first step he took was having a central kitchen built for the 31-store chain, a place where they could ensure food quality and consistency. The kitchen operates nonstop and employs approximately 100 cooks and dishwashers.

The next step was figuring which foods could retain their flavor after a trip across town and a few hours on the shelf.

Certain things had to be avoided: Avocado oxidizes too quickly, fading from its inviting green to a foreboding black. Butter, while it makes everything better, solidifies once it is cooled, leaving food looking clumpy and the taste uneven.

“The idea is that time is precious, and we have to find ways to bring food to the consumer in ways that remove part of the preparation so that things are faster and easier,” says Chang.

One way of addressing this is to build the majority of it at the central kitchen and then train his cooks in the stores to finish it. Adding the rice in store keeps it from hardening, and sprinkling in delicate herbs right before shelving them allows their bright colors and flavors to hold much longer.

The next step is figuring out what local people want to buy and turning them on to new experiences at their dinner table. While he has had his fair share of hits – including several popular poke styles – he has watched favorites of his such as ahi cakes, smoked chicken leg and roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta sit unpurchased on his shelves.

“If I put in ginger, green onions and shoyu, then it sells,” says Chang with a laugh, only half-kidding. “I have found that local clients have an affinity for Asian food.”

Another balancing act for Chang is his concern for the health of the people of his Islands. On one hand, he must try to create dishes that will sell, but on the other hand he must weigh that against what is the best food for an increasingly obese society.

“We have to find a way to deal with processed foods that is healthy – it is a big issue for the supermarket industry,” says Chang. “My thought is it is our responsibility to provide options. We want to provide people with what they want, but we also want to provide a good balance of options.”

Those options continue to morph with the times, as Chang introduces Korean-style poke and shrimp ceviche, trying to stay ahead of a public that is becoming increasingly educated about food, thanks to the proliferation of cooking shows and food magazines.

“People are exposed to quality food more than ever before. They want the convenience but they demand the quality,” says Chang. “There has always been convenience, just not high-quality convenience.”

Battling nationwide chains with their in-store peanut butter grinders and olive bars is a tall task for the little local grocery that could, but Chang has over-seen the transformation of not just the food, but the addition of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to several stores, as well as satellite versions of its renowned R. Field wine shops.

“I thought it was interesting that Foodland was looking for a chef. I thought it was pretty innovative for a local Hawaii company,” says Chang. “We are a conventional grocery store, but I think we have blended well into the gourmet arena. We have elevated the bar.”

King Of The Supermarket Chefs

Chris Fleck

Instead of heading to baseball practice, Cody Sugai had to be rushed to the hospital for a life-threatening diagnosis, one he takes in stride

Whether life is considered fair or not, it seems those who find success, however success is defined, have common traits of perseverance, positivity and constant sensations of fortunate faith. It’s almost certain there will be bumps in the road or obstacles on the trail that will test a person’s strength. It’s how we respond to those hardships that helps heighten our internal attitude and viewpoints of the world around us and what we are capable of overcoming. It also should be noted that adversity isn’t selective, it doesn’t revolve around age, time or place. Often it happens unexpectedly, challenging our spirit with no preparation.

Cody Sugai’s so-called adversity anniversary can be marked as Feb. 17, 2010. Then a fourth-grader at Hawaii Baptist Academy, Cody was going about his normal routine – as the role model student and athlete had on any other given school day. Preparing for a school play, in which he had the role of the island of Kauai, Cody began to feel the onset of a headache. As the day continued, that slight head throb would worsen, advancing into excruciating pain which ultimately sent him to Kapiolani Medical Center’s emergency department. The pediatric emergency unit quickly detected an onset of bleeding in Sugai’s brain. After hours of racing hearts and constant pacing, Cody’s parents, Jeanette and Scott, finally got a moment to breathe as doctors stabilized him. He would remain in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for weeks as doctors assessed his condition and forecast the appropriate next steps.

Cody was diagnosed with an AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, which causes abnormalities in the connections between veins and arteries. It disrupts blood flow between tangled arteries and veins, and can occur anywhere in the body, but primarily it is found in the brain and heart.

After careful analysis, the doctor’s plans for Cody involved Gamma Knife radiation treatment, where more than 200 gamma rays targeted the AVM. Because of Cody’s fragile condition and the sensitive location of the AVM, radiation as opposed to traditional surgery was the only option.

“When he (Cody) came out of sedation, I was expecting everything to be normal, but it wasn’t,” says Cody’s father Scott.

Although he did not lose speech function, Cody had to start from scratch, relearning all that we wake up and do without taking a second to think about.

“He had to relearn everything. How to drink water, how to sit and stand. Liquid was actually dangerous at that point because if the muscles didn’t react in time he could choke,” adds Scott.

Recovery from this type of condition and procedure was not going to be easy and would test anyone’s psyche to the core. But Cody pushed through, guided by Kapiolani’s physicians and physical therapy team. He made tremendous milestones in a short amount of time. It started with just getting out of bed, then walking around the bed, followed by walking out of his room and down the hall. Through pure grit and rampant determination Cody made a full recovery, going so far as making his basketball team when he returned to school.

About those months of recovery, Cody says, “The thing guiding me is that I could always be positive and I can always get better.

God has a plan for me to get better.”

An inspiration to his classmates, Cody was treated as a celebrity when he returned to school.

“He kind of disrupted their schedule, but the teachers said it was a great disruption because his classmates and friends needed to know he was OK. It was something that happened so suddenly, one day he was there and the next he wasn’t,” says mom Jeanette.

Last year Cody did experience another small, but less severe bleeding, which he is continuing to recover from, gaining more strength each day.

Understanding his tremendous courage and faith, Kapiolani Medical Center – as a member of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals – has chosen Cody to represent Hawaii as its 2012 Champion. As Hawaii’s Children’s Miracle Network ambassador, Cody will travel to Washington, D.C., and Orlando to share his story and meet all the other Champions from each state.

“Not only do people get inspired by my story, but I get inspired by other kids. Some of these kids have it worse than I have, and I see them smiling every day. I just try to do my best and keep going and going,” adds Cody, a huge basketball fan jumped ship as an Los Angeles Lakers fan and now pulls for the L.A. Clippers.

An insightful kid, Cody is living life on life’s terms, taking everything in stride and working to do his very best for those around him.

“There is a plan, not so much in our control, but there is something bigger than what we have going on around us. This is just part of it. I use this now to promote the hospital, promote God and faith,” Cody says confidently.

Post-script: You may recall reading in MidWeek a year ago about Hawaii’s 2011 Children’s Miracle Network 2011 Champion, Maddy Wisser, who suffers from spina bifida.

It has been a very busy year for the irrepressible Maddy, to say the least. The teen has had the honor of riding in the Merrie Monarch parade, presenting the Miracle Maker Award to Miss Hawaii Lauren Cheape. Aside from traveling and telling her story, she also has met Miss America and American Idol‘s David Archuleta.

These are the most amazing kids.

A Boy’s Amazing Strength And Faith

Susan Kang Sunderland

Tulsi Gabbard speaks to local Jaycees. Photo from Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard receives a prestigious national honor from the U.S. Jaycees that has previously gone to some of America’s most iconic names

What do John F. Kennedy, Henry Ford, Elvis Presley and Tulsi Gabbard have in common?

Each has been named by the U.S. Junior Chamber (Jaycees) as an Outstanding Young American.

For Elvis, the award was his most valued, proving he was more than a pop culture phenomenon.

For Honolulu City Councilwoman Gabbard, 31, this recently announced distinction puts her in the national spotlight as someone who “exemplifies the best attributes of the nation’s young people.”

It positions her as a model of young leadership to create positive change in her community and around the world, according to the Jaycees.

No pressure here. If Gabbard’s track record is any indication, she is more than up to the task of global role model.

By dedicating herself to the ideal of “servant leadership,” Gabbard has amassed impressive achievements at a time when a lot of her peers were still out partying. She has shattered the glass ceiling of public service many times.

At age 21, she was the youngest legislator ever elected in Hawaii and the youngest woman ever elected in the nation.

She withdrew from an easy re-election in 2004 to volunteer for an 18-month-long deployment to Iraq with the Hawaii Army National Guard.

On a second deployment in 2009, she was among the first women to set foot inside a Kuwait military base and was the first female to be honored by the Kuwait National Guard for her work in training its soldiers.

At age 26, Gabbard attended Alabama Military Academy’s Officer Candidate School and became the first female distinguished honor graduate in the academy’s 50-year history.

If she is elected to the U.S. Congress in the forthcoming race for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District (Rural Oahu-Neighbor Islands), she will be the first woman combat veteran elected to Congress. (Former Assistant Secretary for U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth also is running for Congress in Illinois).

These “firsts” provide Gabbard a public platform for visibility and recognition. For a candidate trying to establish statewide name recognition, it’s a useful forum.

The Jaycees honor the Top 10 Outstanding Young Americans at its June 30 annual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. Gabbard shares the spotlight with Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Iowa State basketball coach Fred Hoiberg and international water engineer Sanjay Ramabhran, among others.

“This is so humbling,” Gabbard says. “I am proud to represent Hawaii in such a positive way and to highlight what is special about our state.”

Past Hawaii awardees are U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye (1959), Maui’s Shane Victorino and Lucas Boyce (2011). National winners are nominated by Hawaii’s Jaycee chapter.

But is it enough to get her votes?

Gabbard faces former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, Hilo attorney Bob Marx, former state Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief advocate Esther Kiaaina, attorney Rafael Del Castillo and water safety instructor Miles Shiratori in the Democratic primary congressional race.

“It’s a job interview with constituents,” she says. “My mentality is that I’m applying for a job, and I must present my credentials, experiences and plans to achieve results in order to win the respect and acceptance of people in the community.

“I was taught at an early age that true reward and true happiness come from service to others,” she adds.

“When I was deployed, serving two years in a medical unit in Iraq, I saw the fragility of life. I saw daily the ultimate cost of war, and how communities and families are affected by the loss of those in military duty, including soldiers, fire-fighters and teachers.

“Later, working as an aide to U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, who was chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I was able to draw upon my combat experiences. There is a difference between real-life situations and policy talking points,” Gabbard asserts.

If she tends to wax philosophical about leadership, it reflects inspiration from her two life models: Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and civil rights advocate Martin Luther King Jr.

“One must lead with the mentality of service,” Gabbard says. “It is a leadership concept that empowers people through openness and persuasion, versus control. If we link arms, we can get things done.”

The Jaycees applaud this approach as it sees a generational shift in national and business leadership. It notes that record numbers of college graduates are applying for public-sector jobs, and working for the government is cool again.

But Gabbard is quick to indicate the stakeholders.

“It’s not about me,” she emphasizes. “It’s about you (constituents).”

That moment of truth was brought home dramatically the morning after Gabbard won her first election as House representative from District 42 (Waipahu, Honouliuli, Ewa Beach).

As she was mahalo sign-waving from the roadside, a woman passenger in a passing car wrote a message on the back of a file folder and propped it up in the vehicle window.

It read: “Don’t let us down.”

The JFK, Henry Ford, Elvis And Tulsi Club

Chris Fleck

Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center’s newest Rainforest Adventures exhibit aims to educate young students about one of the Islands’ precious resources

Our shared Earth pulsates with life by day and night. Throughout our daily routines we get hints of its effortless cycle, by glancing at a blooming flower, listening to a puppy’s buoyant bark or smelling the freshness of countless raindrops slowly evaporating as the sun peeks its rays through a breaking storm.

Hidden under the expansive lushness of tree canopies in various pockets of the world is a living Earth where growth and regrowth is boundlessly abundant, intricate and at its finest, completely natural. These are our rainforests, from the temperate cooler ecosystems found in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia to the tropical variety that flourishes between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Utilizing the immense amount of rain (50-125 inches annually) that is recycled from its own vegetation, rainforests produce thousands of ingredients and resources we use on a daily basis, from foods to medicinal extractions.

And yet, to most people, the rainforests’ inner workings remain a mystery. Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center is opening its educational avenues so these invaluable environments can be understood a bit more by both children and adults. On Saturday June 30th, its Rainforest Adventure exhibit opens to the public.

“We wanted to do something in the sciences, and when the rainforest came up, we thought it was great because preservation of the environment is so important,” says Liane Usher, Hawaii Children Discovery Center’s director of exhibits and programs.

Rainforest Adventures is quite fitting, as Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that is home to tropical rainforests, and yet there is not an abundant amount of information about them available to the public.

The exhibit will combine information about both our local rainforests and those throughout the world.

Before constructing and organizing Rainforest Adventures, the faculty and staff at Children’s Discovery Center took their own field trip to the Waihee Watershed tunnels to get a better understanding of

Hawaii’s rainforest water cycle.

“Our trip was really educational and fun. It puts you in tune with the aina, and that put us in the mindset as we prepared to develop this exhibit,” says Loretta Yajima, president and CEO of Children’s Discovery Center.

A process-driven exhibit, Rainforest Adventures uses hands-on sensory function to engage young students. A few attractions of Rainforest Adventures are Amazon River water table, Rainforest Scents Center - where children will use their sense of smell to identify products that come from the rainforest – and the From Rainforest to Home display, in which children identify products that come from rainforest plants, such as rubber from Hevea trees, chocolate from cacao trees or perfumes that come from the rosewood tree.

Replicating scientific research methods, there also is an observation deck for students to look out from.

“We wanted to include an observation deck, because in actual rainforests this is how scientists study the rainforests, from the canopies of the trees,” says Usher.

Children’s Discovery Center understands the new Rainforest Adventures is a work in progress that is supposed to evolve in order to improve its functionality and value. Starting soon, the center will conduct focus group visits to gather feedback and evaluation from both students and educators.

“We are really excited about doing the focus group visits because that’s where a lot of the content about the rainforest and conservation is going to come from. We also will be giving the kids activities that can be taken back to the classroom, and so it should really affect our whole community of learners,” says Yajima.

Promoting conservational and preservation activity, Rainforest Adventures will help educate students about threats to each rainforest, including those that are most specific to our island forests.

“Threats here are so much different than others. Our main threats are invasive plants and animals, and so we thought it was a very important message because children may not understand what affects our ecosystems and why,” adds Usher.

Many community partners, such as Hawaii Nature Center, Board of Water Supply, Kokua Hawaii Foundation, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species and The Department of Forestry and Wildlife, will be on hand opening day, participating with variety of fun activities.

With 10,000 to 15,000 school-children visiting Children’s Discovery Center’s exhibits annually, Rainforest Adventures is another stellar platform on which education through interactive learning is the focal theme.

Rainforest Education Comes Alive

Chad Pata

They can be close to family and friends, but for cancer survivors - no matter the type - there is a deep connection only they understand Too often in life we as a culture use the hyperbole of war to describe our lives - battling our weight problems, shooting down ideas or entrenched at our desks. But there is one group among us for which those words ring true: cancer survivors. Last year alone, more than 6,700 people were diagnosed with cancer in our state, and for each and every one of them, just like our men and women in uniform, they began a fight that has two possible results and only one of them involves having another birthday. It is for this reason that the survivors of this insidious disease in its many forms have a kinship that one generally only finds in comrades-in-arms, a bond that develops from having stared into the void and coming out changed, but still breathing, on the other side. It's a connection that even a best friend or a mother cannot make because it comes from the doing, not the knowing. "It is a totally different connection with survivors as opposed to friends who don't have it," says Michelle Sato, a 24-year-old oncology nurse at Queen's, who in 1998 discovered she had osteosarcoma. "Even if I have a best friend for years, then I meet a cancer survivor, you just know that they understand what you went through. It is almost hard to explain; you just know that there is a special connection. I feel comfortable talking to my other friends about it, but when they don't know how it feels to throw up every day, to be stuck at home while everyone is going out, it is just a deeper connection." When she was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 10, Sato had no idea that there were others suffering just like her. All she knew was up until then her life was sports, and now doctors were telling her that she could never play again. Her treatment left her right leg deeply scarred, her head bald and her hopes shattered. "It took me into a really dark place," remembers Sato. "Why me? This sucks! This is not fair! I coped with it through anger at the whole world. I told my parents, just let me die." But Sato was not alone, and this is where the American Cancer Society may be its most valuable. While it is the world's largest private funder of cancer research, having contributed more than $3.4 billion to the cause, it is in connecting fellow survivors that it brings the most hope. For children suffering the disease, it has Camp Anuenue, where kids can meet their fellow soldiers in the war for their lives. "What turned it around for me was the camp," says Sato. "When I turned the corner, and seeing the ocean on the North Shore, and other kids with no hair, braces - that is when I turned around on my road to recovery. "Knowing there are other people who have gone through the same thing, it really helps. No matter what age you are when you experience cancer, the experiences you go through are very similar." Just ask living legend Jimmy Borges, who last year at the age of 75 discovered he had a tumor the size of a small football on his liver. "I told the doctor, I have been getting such bad news lately, say something good to me," says Borges, "and he said, 'Mr. Borges, you have cancer.' It was the most devastating news for me." Miraculously and despite dire predications from four different physicians, Borges has made a full recovery and is singing again, but the experience forever changed him and bound him to his fellow survivors. "What I found out is that we are joined at the hip," says Borges. "I have gotten more calls from people who had cancer, and I gave them hope and they gave me hope. It was so helpful. "My mandate now - now that the curse became a blessing - is to work with young people and get them on the road to self-realization and a positive self-image. If you like yourself, you are going to like what you do. Just keep getting up." That connection became evident when he first met Cher Conner, a young surgery nurse at Pali Momi who was just diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in November. Even as strangers, Borges felt such a kinship that he entreated her to take off her wig so that he could appreciate her beauty, even going so far as kissing her on her smooth, barren pate. What would have been offen-sive under any other circumstance seemed perfectly natural among their group, a gesture of affection within a circle that only their suffering will let them enter. While Conner was taken off guard at first by Borges' deed, she is appreciative to know that are others battling just like her. "Just knowing that if I need something, that there is someone out there to help me," says Conner, who has a 2-year-old daughter named Kailea, "that I could talk to someone, just someone that is there to help you feel better about what you are going through." When she needs someone to talk to, she would be hard-pressed to find someone with a better take on it than Sato, who after 14 years has learned to appreciate everything she has been granted. "It's a blessing that I'm still here. Before I would think, 'Why me, why me,' and now I think, 'Why not?'" says Sato. "For some reason, I have been given this second chance to do something with my life, and I believe that there is something I am meant to do in this world, and I just want to live in every moment and be able to share my story." To help others like Conner, Sato and Borges keep celebrating their lives, ACS is holding Bridging Birthdays of Hope Aug. 21 at The Modern Honolulu. Tickets cost $150 per person and include a hosted bar and heavy pupus with entertainment by Mailani. For more information, call ACS at 595-7500.

A Bond Born In Pain And Fear

Ron Mizutani

Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation inducts Brian Keaulana, Archie Kalepa, Ricky Grigg and Michael Tongg There are those who demand respect, and then there are those who command it. There's a distinct difference between the two: One is forcefully requested, and the other is earned. This year's inductees into the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation's Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame all have earned their respect through their actions, accomplishments and giving spirit. Brian Keaulana Brian Keaulana is a man of great wisdom and great wit. When asked, "What is your greatest accomplishment?," he chuckled and said, "I don't know. Tomorrow hasn't happened yet." Keaulana is the son of legendary waterman "Buffalo" Keaulana and a wonderful woman many simply call "Aunty Momi." "My greatest mentors will always be my parents. They instilled the value of family in me," says Keaulana. "It was Mom and Dad who taught us to treat everyone like family - feed them, invite them into your home and love them like your own. My parents taught me this life lesson, and I hope I've done the same for my kids." Keaulana was literally raised at Makaha Beach, where his father was a lifeguard. Keaulana earned the respect of watermen across the world for his powerful surfing style, and later for his ocean safety expertise and lifesaving techniques. He continues to thrive in the ocean as a master of tandem, canoe surfing, big-wave riding and tow-in surfing. The former Hokule'a crewmember also is a professional stuntman and stunt coordinator. "One of my biggest achievements is being a local lifeguard and saving thousands of people, and being able to teach that skill around the world," says Keaulana. "Seeing the impact of the Jet Ski being used to save lives and knowing that I had my hand on that, that is something I'm really proud of." Archie Kalepa The Hall of Fame honors Hawaii's legendary men and women of the ocean who have helped establish Hawaii as the center of the watersports world. Maui's Archie Kalepa is certainly one of the state's greatest ocean sports pioneers. "My mentors were my dad and my grandpa," says Kalepa. "Both were ocean-men who taught me to always give 100 percent in everything I do. I found my comfort zone in the ocean. I've been fortunate to be able to help people all across the world." Kalepa is the head of Maui Ocean and Rescue Safety, who with the help of Keaulana and Todd Bradley has helped mod-ernize and innovate stand-up paddling. The trio also led the way in the design and testing of groundbreaking lifesaving rescue tools. "I'm proud to be an ambassador of Hawaii, following in the footsteps of the great Duke Kahanamoku," says Kalepa. "My whole life I have tried to do the right thing, whether it's saving a life, opening a door, carrying a bag or helping someone with a flat tire. I am proud of who I am. I am proud to be Hawaiian." Richard Grigg, Ph.D. Ricky Grigg was one of the pioneers of big-wave riding in the 1950s and '60s. Grigg was considered a superstar in the sport, winning the International Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Contest at Sunset Beach in 18-foot surf. At the time, the "Duke" was considered the world championship for big surf. "We weren't really professionals," laughs Grigg. "I didn't win any money. Now some surfers are making seven digits. I'm stoked for them!" Grigg published several popular books on surfing, including Big Surf, Deep Dives and the Islands, Surf Science and Surfer in Hawaii. Today, Dr. Grigg, emeritus professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii, is internationally known for his research on the ecology and paleoceanog-raphy of reef-building corals in Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean. "If I had to pick one accomplishment that I'm most proud of, it has to be the discovery of Darwin Point," says Grigg of his research on the history of the Hawaiian Archipelago and why islands drown at the northwestern end of the Hawaiian Islands. Grigg was recently awarded the National Academy of Underwater Arts and Science's Lifetime Achievement Award for underwater research. The Waterman Hall of Fame selection is just as fulfilling. "I am honored and touched by this honor," says Grigg. "To be invited into a family that is uniquely Hawaiian, there are no words for that, there are just no words." Michael Tongg (1944-2007) Michael Tongg's life was his passion for the ocean and his compassion for people. Friends say it's hard to believe one person could contribute so much in so many different ways. "A lot of young people are better off today because he shared his knowledge," says longtime friend and well-respected businessman Anthony Guerrero. "It's not the house you live in or the dollars you have, it's seeing people become successful because you shared your mana'o." And Tongg willingly shared his mana'o with those who wanted to learn. It started early in his life when his Waikiki Surf Club crew won the Molokai Hoe race in 1966, 1969 and 1973. For nearly 20 years he served as president of Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association, president of The Polynesian Voyaging Society, on the board of directors of the International Hawaiian Canoe Association, and race director for the Molokai Hoe. He also started and ran the Ala Wai Challenge Race for nearly 20 years. The former Hokule'a crewmember did all of this while running a successful family law practice and a loving home. He and wife Jan fostered more than 50 children together. Tongg died in 2007 after a four-year battle with lung cancer. He was only 63. Tongg's mantras sum it up best: "Take care of the land, take care of the ocean. take care of one another," and when it comes to paddling, or anything else for that matter, "paddle from the heart." Michael Tongg did everything from the heart.

Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame Class of 2012

Yu Shing Ting

Some amazing deals on designer merchandise are available at Goodwill Hawaii's gala dinner Thursday, with the sale continuing through the weekend. When Laura Smith joined Goodwill Industries of Hawaii as president/CEO in 1994, the nonprofit organization served about 400 people a year. These days it serves more than 15,000 people a year statewide with education, job training and job placement programs. "They really need help transitioning into employment," says Smith about the people coming through Goodwill's doors. "Oftentimes they either have a first job or they have a hard time getting that first job, and what Goodwill does is help people and their families find out what career they want, and then help them create a path to that career. For a lot of them, they were laid off or they haven't found the job that's right for them, so they have some work experience but it hasn't led them to a career. "The mission of Goodwill is to help people who have employment barriers to reach their full potential and become self-sufficient. It's career development, employment and training." Some of the many services Goodwill provides are resume development, interview skills and how to apply for jobs online. There also are a youth at-risk program, tax clinics and opportunities for people to gain work experience and get good employment references. The services are free, and like many charities Goodwill depends on support from the community, specifically through donations of clothing and household items, as well as the public shopping at its stores. "Ninety-one percent of every donation that's given to us goes directly to our programs, and it all stays in Hawaii," says Smith. "Our overhead is about 9 percent, which is very low for a nonprofit." Anyone who has been to a Goodwill store knows it's like a treasure hunt, with some highly valuable fashion pieces waiting to be discovered. Whether it's a vintage aloha shirt or an in-season designer dress, you just never know what you'll find. For the past year, Goodwill employees have been sorting through endless piles of donations and in-store retail merchandise for designer brands, glam pieces and specialty items to be sold at Bank of Hawaii presents Goodwill Goes GLAM, featuring the Goodwill Gala and VIP Pre-sale Aug. 23 from 6 to 10 p.m., and Goodwill GLAM Sale Aug. 24-26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. "We have had a fundraiser every year, and we watched and learned from some Goodwills on the Mainland how they were pairing their annual gala dinner with a shopping experience, and decided about two years ago that we wanted to bring this to Hawaii," explains Smith. "Guests can expect a fun shopping experience of 50,000 better Goodwill items all in one place. It's all the glam and party-type of items, things that you would wear to dress up and go out. There's clothing, handbags, a lot of jewelry, and things for men, women and children." Tickets to the Goodwill Gala and VIP Pre-Sale cost $70 and include pupu, desserts and a fashion show plus the first opportunity to shop the glam sale. Admission to the Goodwill GLAM Sale is $4 (free Aug. 24 to military, teachers and students with a valid ID). "We encourage people to come to the sale early on because every item is one-of-a-kind unique," adds Smith. "We have a volunteer crew of about 400 people who are helping us get things stocked up and ready, and we will be restocking throughout the event." During a recent visit to Goodwill Industries of Hawaii headquarters near the airport, we spotted Escada leather pants tagged at $24.99, a Diane von Furstenberg blouse for $15.99, a Betsey Johnson leather bag for $24.99 and a Fossil watch for $14.99. There also were Prada and Versace sunglasses, Coach handbags, a Michael Kors dress and Manolo Blahnik shoes. But the highlight of the event is getting the community to understand Goodwill's mission, and how by donating to Goodwill and shopping at Goodwill, you are helping people get back to work. People like Steven Ikehara, 48, who sought the help of Goodwill after recovering from a stroke two-and-a-half years ago. Ikehara previously worked in the printing business, including for a brief time as a sheet-feeder press operator at MidWeek. But the stroke left him with residual nerve damage in his right arm and hand, and he could no longer do his job. He joined Goodwill as a clerk, and as his recovery progressed he moved up to become an operations support specialist. "I really wanted to go to work. I believe a body in motion stays in motion," he says. "I tried to get a job at a lot of places, and then I discovered the Goodwill website and its mission to help people with disabilities and make them more self-sufficient. I've learned that if you experience misfortune and you have to start over, Goodwill is a good place to start, and the people are really nice." Smith, who was raised in Kailua, graduated from Kailua High School and then University of Hawaii with a bachelor's degree in social work. She was first involved with Goodwill for one of her internship practicums, and then went on to get her master's degree in rehabilitation administration at the University of San Francisco. "I am a social worker at heart," says Smith, "and what inspires me is meeting the people who come to Goodwill for services, watching their career develop and finding that way through whatever barrier they have." For more information, visit higoodwill.org.

Goodwill Is Going All GLAM

Chad Pata

Aileen Deese / Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii

It's estimated that 20,000 kids are abused in Hawaii every year - the same number of births in a year. This agency is working to end such abuse.

Through the sordid march of mankind's history there are many groups that can lay claim to their fair share of horrendous treatment, from the Cambodians at the hands of Pol Pot to the Africans' treatment in the Americas to the Jews of Europe before and during World War II. But if you want to find a group that consistently has been maligned and mistreated through the millen-nia, it is one known to all races and religions: children. Going back to the earliest days of recorded history, children have been treated as property, mere tokens for their fathers to trade, abuse or kill at their whim. These traditions and laws were passed down from Egyptians to Romans to Europeans to Americans. The most defenseless among us were there to be used however adults saw fit. The Industrial Revolution rolled into America in the 1820s, and who became the newest cog in the factory wheel? Kids. Children as young as 5 were working 16-hour days to feed the economic beast. But with this financial growth America finally found some decency and began to provide some protection for the afflicted among us, namely, our pets. The ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) was founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh, who wanted to protect "these mute servants of mankind." Meanwhile, the children of this nation toiled away in soot-stained factories. It took another eight years until the tragic case of 9-year-old Mary Ellen McCormack, who was found bound and beaten mercilessly in her bed, that a local church worker named Etta Wheeler appealed that children were members of the animal kingdom and should therefore be protected by the ASPCA. Thus children were finally protected - albeit at the same level as the common household cat - for the next 90 years until the modernization of radiology led Dr. C. Henry Kempe to begin to notice how many children he treated had obvious non-accidental injuries, and he published the landmark paper, "The Battered Child Syndrome" in 1962. Finally, a bell went off. States began to enact "mandatory reporting" laws for physicians and teachers, requiring them to alert authorities to any abuses they discovered. In 1974, a decade after the Civil Rights Act afforded protection against discrimination because of race, religion or ethnicity, another line could be added to that list - age, as the federal government passed Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. It was into this new world of child protection that Aileen Deese joined the fight 36 years ago in Florida, and this year she is helping Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii celebrate its 30th anniversary here in the Islands. She has been program director - and for much of the time its only employee - for the past 22 years. In order to cut costs in recent years, she has been forced to run the charity out of her home, and she relies on the help of hundreds of volunteers to get their message out. "Our sole focus is prevention of abuse and neglect in Hawaii through education, advocacy and awareness programs," says Deese. "We want to strengthen the families, give parents informa tion about how they can be stronger families, and help prevent child abuse and neglect." The first place the organization likes to get its message out at is where the children first start their lives, so you will find Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii at Kapiolani Hospital, informing new mothers on the importance of keeping a cool head when their newborns test their patience. "We do a brochure for new mothers, and we go into the hospital and give each mother a packet about abuse and shaken baby syndrome - there are about 20,000 new births each year and we try to get one to each new family," says Bonnie Parsons, president of the PCAH board. Shaken baby syndrome, or as it is now known, abusive head trauma, occurs most often with new parents who have not yet learned how to sooth their newborn when the baby is crying incessantly. Out of frustration, sometimes these parents shake their child violently to try to calm it down, causing irreparable harm to the infant's still unseated brain. "I got a call from the head of the Department of Health that reminded us that we are the only agency that does a program on shaken baby syndrome," says Deese. "It is a real serious form of child abuse. What happens when the parents shake the child is blindness, brain damage and death. So they asked me to expand the program." While such behavior is too abhorrent for most of us to even think about, the stresses of having children is something that any parent can relate to, and it is in how we deal with these situations that new parents must be educated. Even as far as we have come in the past 38 years, child abuse is still rampant. Five children die every day in this country because of child abuse, with 80 percent of those deaths happening to children under the age of 4. Experts estimate that one child is abused per minute, having devastating effects on their self- esteem and skyrocketing their chances of drug addiction, juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the estimated cost of child abuse and neglect in this country is $124 billion a year. Locally, there were 4,200 cases reported in 2010 alone, and Deese says that authorities believe for every case reported, four cases go unreported, meaning even in our family-centric community here in the Islands, there were more than 20,000 cases of child abuse just two years ago. As the center for disseminating information and awareness about child abuse, PCAH tries to become involved in anything family-related, so you will often see it at Baby Expos and Child and Youth Days. Judging its effectiveness is difficult for Deese to quantify, because much like if you have more DUI checkpoints, the number of DUIs will go up; the better PCAH does its job, the more child abuse cases come to light. "It is hard to tell, because when we do a really good job of telling people who to call and what to do, you get a good number of reports, they go up like 20 percent," says Deese. Such numbers, though, only encourage Deese and others to work harder, and PCAH does conduct a few of its own functions each year, the two most popular being Breakfast with Santa held every December and the Teddy Bear Drive. Breakfast with Santa has been held for the past 27 years at the Japanese Cultural Center as a way to raise funds for the organization, provide awareness of its cause and perhaps most importantly of the families, giving them a much-needed break during the holidays where children can play and meet Santa while the parents just relax with some eggs and pancakes. One spectacular new way PCAH has to raise awareness manifests itself on the lawn surrounding the Capital, where there is a sprouting of hundreds of blue pinwheels each April as part of a nationwide campaign called Pinwheels for Prevention. Like so many whirling mushrooms, they appear each spring to represent the positive side of what PCAH does. "The pinwheels do not represent every death in the state by child abuse, but it is a symbol of the prevention of child abuse, how to keep every kid safe," says Deese. Its biggest fundraiser of the year is coming Sept. 14 from 5:30 to 9 p.m., as it holds its 30th Anniversary Gala at The Willows. The theme is "In The Mood," named after the Glenn Miller Orchestra tune from 1940, and everyone is encouraged to dress the part. Music will be performed by vocalist Ginai, with her jazz stylings reminiscent of the era, and there will be "casino games" set up to win prizes. The food and drinks will be set up in stations to help people mill around, enjoy fellowship and a trip back in time. Two key volunteers are to be honored at the event: Vince Barfield, a senior vice president with Bank of Hawaii, for his decade of service to the organization, and author Shirley Yuen, for the support she has given to the Never Shake A Keiki program. While there will be lots of items in the silent auction, the big-ticket item this go-round is a brand-new Chevy Spark donated by Cutter Chevrolet. It's not very often you can go to a fundraiser, especially one with a ticket price under $100, and have the chance of driving away in a new car. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 951-0200 or go to preventchildabusehawaii.org.

Stopping Abuse Before It Happens

Yu Shing Ting

The daughter of a local TV personality is making her own name as an international model One of the world's next top models just might be 16-year-old Kylee Dashefsky. In only two years of modeling, the senior at Mid-Pacific Institute has been offered modeling opportunities many girls can only dream of. She just returned home last week from a two-and-a-half month modeling contract with J.I.M. Modeling in Bangkok. Because Kylee is a minor and this was her first international modeling placement, her mother, Daynin, accompanied her, staying in an apartment building occupied by other models from around the world. While there, Dashefsky went to castings every day, and was hired for four commercials and various printwork, including a clothing ad campaign and look book for CC-OO (see some of her photos at ccdoubleo.com), as well as commercials, print ads and billboards for Miss Shampoo. She also played a ballet instructor in a commercial for Eucerin skin care that will be aired throughout Asia, and is in a hairspray commercial for India. According to Doug Lange of Premier Models and Talent, with which Dashefsky is signed locally, there was an opportunity for the teenage beauty to continue modeling in Asia, but she chose to finish her senior year instead. The honor roll student, who enjoys singing and dancing, confirms that she wanted to come home to graduate with her friends. She also has been busy applying to colleges, mostly in California, and plans to study biology with the possibility of going to medical school. Of course, she'll also continue modeling. pon returning home, she was immediately hired for several fashion shows at Ala Moana Center's Fashion's Night Out last week. "People used to tell me I should model, but I never used to be into it," says Dashefsky. "I started because my friend is the daughter of the designer of Mikalance, a fitness wear company in Japan, and they asked me to model for their catalog. After that, they told me about Premier agency and I've been with them ever since. "I definitely want to keep modeling. It's a great way to make money for school." Dashefsky, who turns 17 next month, also used her modeling paychecks to buy a 2012 Nissan Versa. Her exotic looks come from a mixture of 11 different ethnicities - Filipino, Russian, German, Chinese, Scottish, French, Dutch, Irish, Spanish and American Indian. Add her statuesque height of 5 feet 10 inches, long silk-like hair, beautiful dark brown eyes and a picture-perfect smile, and you can say she was destined to be a model. But when the lights and cameras are turned off, Dashefsky describes herself as a typical teenager most likely wearing jeans and a T-shirt and no makeup. According to Mom, she's also an overachiever with very good values and a good head on her shoulders. "Modeling is fun," says Dashefsky. "I get to travel to a lot of places. In Bangkok, we got to ride an elephant and walk in this jungle, where we got to see waterfalls, and little monkeys would come up about two feet away from us." Next on her schedule is a trip to Japan with two other local models for Mikalance's 25th anniversary event. She also may go back to Asia next summer. "It's fun to put on all the clothes, have your hair and makeup done, and go to different places to shoot, like on yachts and mansions," says Dashefsky. "And I like that I get to meet a lot of people."

The Accidental Teen Modeling Star

Chad Pata

Rich Miano - Doing What He Always Dreamed Of Doing

The ex-NFL star is coaching his alma mater Kaiser High, and loving every minute. When young kids strap on their shoulder pads, pulling that helmet down over their ears for the first time, they dream about one day playing in the NFL. Meanwhile, during Rich Miano's time on the big stage, 11 years of adoring fans, big-time hits and pro paychecks, he was dreaming of getting back to those small-kid days. "My thoughts when I was in the NFL was that I hoped I would be in a position one day to coach for free, to give back to the game," says Miano, the new head football coach at his alma mater, Kaiser High School. "I didn't feel like that at the University of Hawaii, although there was a lot of give-back there as well. But this is about helping my community and young people while staying involved with football. This is giving me a lot of inner peace because this is really grassroots." His opportunity came right as it looked as if a door was closing on him. The hiring of Norm Chow at UH brought more than a decade of dedication to his university to a close for Miano. He knew a Mainland college was not a choice for him, and he had always eschewed the thoughts of coaching in the pro ranks. "I never wanted to coach in the pros because you cannot influence them in anything except football," says Miano. He had a desire to shape young men's lives, to let them learn from him that hard work on your body and your brain is how you succeed in life, both on and off the gridiron. So it was a bit of kismet when the Kaiser job came open this spring, welcoming home the former star who helped bring the Cougars the 1979 Prep Bowl title. But even with this opportunity that he had dreamed of, there was some trepidation - for years he had been hearing about the inherent laziness of today's youths - but on that front he has been pleasantly surprised. "I love the hard work it takes to succeed in this game, and these kids work hard. They are willing to pay the price to be as good as they can be, and that to me is the most rewarding," says Miano. The other surprise for Miano has been of the not-so-pleasant variety: the general disrepair of high school facilities around the state. He would like to see just one of the candidates stop talking about trains and sewers for once and speak to the con ditions, both on and off the field, of our high schools. "You don't hear any candidates talking about educational facilities. When you look at the public high schools around the state ... I cannot imagine facilities being worse than they are in this state," says Miano, who visited hundreds of high schools on the Mainland while serving as a recruiter for UH. "To me, there is no more important investment than giving kids great facilities to play and to get educated. I tell my staff if we are not improving our facilities every day, we are doing a disservice to our players because they deserve better." The word facilities generally brings to mind weight rooms and showers, but the most important part of the facilities, in Miano's thinking, is the field on which the game is actually played. "There are so many safety issues now with concussions, and a lot of them come from the surface, players hitting their heads on the hard ground," says Miano, who would like to see FieldTurf installed at all high school stadiums to help alleviate the problem. The issues of concussions is one that Miano is intimately involved with. He was one of the first players to participate in the lawsuit against the NFL claiming it had not adequately protected its players against injuries. While they are suing for billions of dollars, Miano says that the motivation is not financial. "This isn't about a money grab,'' says Miano. "It's an education grab. Colt McCoy gets concussed last year in a game and goes right back in. Two high school players here in Hawaii got put back in a game after concussions. "There needs to be a huge outreach across all levels of football to educate people about the dangers of head trauma and football. It is good to have the coaches be much more aware. It should have been done in the '80s and '90s, but they are being proactive now." The Hawaii High School Athletic Association now requires all coaches to complete an online concussion education course, and rules have been changed so that if a player intentionally uses helmet-to-helmet contact, that player is not only ejected from that game, but suspended for the next game as well. It was just such a hit that almost took the life of Damien quarterback Alan Mohika last year, and it is these type of injuries that are causing the sport to see players leaving in droves. "Flag football is the fastest growing youth sport, and organized football is the fastest declining sport," says Miano, "and the reason is because of head injuries and concussions, Moms feel safer with them in flag." Though there may be fewer players, the fervor for football has not slackened in the Islands and Miano seems to have made a quick turnaround for the Cougars. He took a team that only won two games last year (one by forfeit) and has turned in a 3-1 record going into last weekend's showdown with Nanakuli. Now back where he began, he hopes to instill a new generation with the values with which he was raised and seeing them come to life in young people is all the reward he needs. "I would rather lose with good people than win with kids who don't understand the importance of their education," says Miano. "I consider myself a coach - when young people come up to me and call me Coach, I feel honored. To me, that is something you should wear with pride."

How you can help your favorite high school teams Feel like you are helpless to improve your school's athletic program? Put that feeling behind you, because again it's your chance to help out as Kraft Foods and Times Supermarkets bring their 12th annual Shop and Score program to a Times grocer near you. Last year they combined to bring $250,000 worth of athletic equipment and uniforms to Oahu and Kauai high schoolers, bringing their combined contributions up to $1.3 million since the program's inception in 2001. The process is simple and does not cost residents a penny. Just go to your local Times, declare your favorite school, purchase groceries and other basic goods as you would every week, and any products that are marked with the Shop and Score display earn the school of your choice points toward the quarter-million dollars' worth of goods up for grabs this year. The program began Aug. 29, but there is still plenty of time to help your school, as the contest runs through Oct. 9. Last year was the first time they opened the contest up to a Neighbor Island, with surprising results. "We took the program to Kauai and we were blown away by the response," says Gerald Shintaku, the head of Kraft Foods in Hawaii. "In fact, two Kauai high schools - Waimea High School and Kauai High School - were among the top 10 points-earning schools statewide. Combined, they earned more than $20,000 worth of Adidas uniforms and equipment. "Kraft Foods remains committed to providing support to our schools and improving the lives of our students. It's something we recognized many years ago - by fulfilling these needs, we're helping our kids to grow and to strive to be the best that they can be." Last year's big winners came from the Windward side as Castle took in almost $24,000 in equipment, followed by Kalani, Waipahu, Aiea and Kaimuki high schools. Who is taking home the goods this year? That is entirely up to you.

Rich Miano – Doing What He Always Dreamed Of Doing

Chris Fleck

It's one thing when our national and local leaders speak about the value education can have in stimulating resurging economies, whether in the Islands or on the Mainland. It's a step above when those same leaders take action to ensure funding for educational programs remains, as much as possible, intact for the public. It was just in August that Waipahu Community School For Adults principal John Vannatta was able to exhale a breath of relief when Community Schools for Adults, which was on the brink of closing statewide, was granted nearly $5 million in matching funds from the federal AEFLA (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act) and through state legislative appropriations. These funds ensure Community Schools For Adults, although majorly consolidated, will remain open, serving Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii. There should be some clarification on the type of courses offered at Community Schools for Adults. Sure, the state's adult schools offer a handful of special-interest classes, such as hula and Japanese language, but the pulse of the adult school system is in its General Education Diploma (GED) and Competency-Based High School Diploma Program (CBHSDP). "These programs offer a huge amount of value to the community," says Vannatta. "We offer people an opportunity to complete their secondary education so they can move on. My take on it is we would have a lot more people unemployed - and probably more crime - if not for these courses. We have students who have gone on to a variety of occupations and professions. We are kind of like a well-kept secret." Vannatta says a wide demographic range of students enroll each year, but the bulk are age 16 to 24 - usually those who did not complete high school for whatever reason and now understand the value a high school competency degree has for the fate of their futures, both personal and professional. "For a lot of younger students, they didn't make the right call when they were 15 or 16, and that's why they are back at 18 or 19," says Vannatta. "They realize they have to do something, and these courses give them an opportunity." Community Schools for Adults also offers its testing and teaching services to several military branches. Serving Schofield Army Barracks, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Tripler and Fort Shafter, Community Schools for Adults offers general testing for enlisted servicemen seeking internal promotions and rank advancements. It also provides courses and testing for correctional facility inmates and community programs, such as Adult Friends for Youth, Honolulu Community Action Program and National Guard Youth Challenge. Serving thousands of enrolled students each year, the 2012-13 school year will pose a bit of a challenge for the registrar, as Community Schools for Adults has been consolidated from 11 main schools to just two, Waipahu and McKinley high schools. Waipahu Community School for Adults now services the entire Leeward, Central and Windward districts of Oahu, from Waianae and Kapolei to Kahuku, as well as the island of Hawaii. McKinley Community School for Adults will service the Honolulu, Moanalua and Farrington districts, as well as Kauai and Maui. Class registration and transcript requests have to be done through Waipahu and McKinley, but Community Schools for Adults offers a variety of teaching sites, where courses and testing will be conducted in your area or nearby. Although Community Schools for Adults was granted funding, there are supplemental fees to students. With GED and CBHS-DP courses ranging from 30 to 60 class hours, the enrollment fees will go to maintaining the program as well as instructor salaries, which are almost entirely part-time positions. When all is said and done, it will now cost students interested in obtaining either their GED or CBHSPD roughly $200, which includes course fees and textbooks. With new fee requirements, Vannatta is curious about what may happen to enrollment over the next year. But he and the rest of the Community Schools for Adults staff can be proud of the inestimable value their services provide for those seeking degree advancement. "There are times when you wonder if your students are going to do well. It makes it all worthwhile in the end when you see the smiles on their faces at graduation," says registrar director Nathan Pinnow. For registrar or general information, CLICK HERE.

Schools For Adults Saved By The Bell