West Kauai Rotary Club supports Buoy Project

Dave Walker, Rotary Club of West Kauai, presents custom-made cookies supporting the County of Kauai’s buoy dedication project, to immediate past president of Rotary International Sakuji Tanaka, at the Rotary District 5000 conference May 2 on Oahu. The cookies, donated by the Kauai Cookie Company, are part of the fundraising efforts to permanently display the buoy from Kauai’s sister city, Iwaki, Japan, that was washed away from there during the devastating tsunami caused by the 9.0 earthquake in Japan, March 11, 2011. The buoy was retrieved just off the Kauai coast almost two years later, in January 2013, by a Pacific Missile Range Facility boat and crew after an incredible journey in which the ocean currents somehow delivered the beacon to Iwaki’s sister city. The RCWK donated $250 to the project, in addition to raising more than an expected $1,000 through the cookie sales. Approximately $11,000 has been raised so far via grants and private donations. The money is being used to construct the display materials and signs. The buoy display will be blessed at Port Allen during a private event later in May. (Photo by Stefan Alford)