Volunteer Week Kaua‘i 2022 

By Tommy Noyes

Kumu Puna Kalama Dawson conducted her traditional E Ala Ē chanting ceremony at Earth Day’s dawn, Friday, April 22, makai of the Hikina‘akala Heiau, for about 40 participants.

Kanu Hawai‘i partnered with more than 90 local organizations to celebrate Volunteer Week Hawai‘i 2022. From Sunday, April 17 through Saturday, April 23 there were 120-plus volunteer events taking place across seven Hawaiian Islands. Check the listings at KanuHawaii.org for ongoing volunteering opportunities around the state.

The spirit of Volunteer Week Kaua‘i 2022 got energized by the Monday, April 18 E Kanikapila Kakou Hawaiian music and culture program. Carol Yotsuda, the Garden Island Arts Council’s executive director, coordinates EKK. She asked performer John Mahi of ‘Oiwi to send her his set list.

“I so sorry but we don’t have one we usually just go with how the crowd feels. I hope that’s OK,” Mahi replied.

It was not only “OK”; it was stellar!

‘Oiwi went with the crowd and had everyone up on their feet dancing hula, dancing kachi-kachi, and shaking out those nasty pandemic-infused cobwebs that had stiffened our joints and dulled our brains. It was just what the doctor ordered. It was truly impossible to resist the urge to get up and dance with all the rest of those happy gyrating bodies. Thank you, ‘Oiwi!

Kumu Puna Kalama Dawson conducted her traditional E Ala Ē chanting ceremony at Earth Day’s dawn, Friday, April 22, makai of the Hikina‘akala Heiau, for about 40 participants.

Next came blessing the awesome inclusive playground at Lydgate Beach Park. Mayor Derek Kawakami expressed his gratitude to the 150 people in the audience for their sustained community service, and introduced Danielle Sagum, director, business development, for Inspired Play, the contractor that designed and built this amazing new facility.

Sagum acknowledged playground designer Bob Leathers, who in 1994 inspired her when hundreds of elementary school students were given their opportunity to be creative in planning the Kamalani Playground community build. Sagum shared that her professional career was profoundly shaped by that early childhood experience.

County of Kaua‘i’s Department of Parks and Recreation collaborated with Leadership Kaua‘i’s Inclusive Playground Service Project cohort in developing the inclusive playground. Kaija Eastman, Frank Cruz, and Alejandra Sanchez represented the cohort, and five students from the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle and Kaua‘i High Schools’ Special Olympics Unified Champion School (UCS) program shared their appreciation.

The UCS program promotes social inclusion through intentionally planned and implemented activities affecting systems-wide change, and equips young people with the tools and training to create sports, classroom, and school climates of acceptance where students with disabilities feel welcome and are routinely included, and feel a part of, all activities, opportunities and functions.

David Braman, an eighth-grade student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, spoke about the Unified concept; “Our goal as a team is to spread inclusion around our community.”

Josh Melchor summed up the students’ commitment to positive change, saying, “Thank you to all who helped create this playground. We look forward to a lot of fond memories being made here.”

The Friends of Kamalani resumed their annual celebration of Earth Day in Lydgate Park 2022 with a community workday.

“It was great weather and a lot was accomplished,” event coordinator Tom Worthen said. “We can’t do it without our volunteers, and the 300 of you who came to work in the park make it all happen.

“I spoke with Bob Leathers, the architect who designed the original Kamalani Playground. Leathers told me that these wooden structures typically have a 20-25 year lifespan, and then they are usually demolished. He noted that at 28 years old, Kamalani Playground is already several years beyond what would normally be a wooden playground’s effective lifespan. He couldn’t see any structural issues, and said that in all his experience, he had not seen a playground this old in such great shape.

“We can expect many more years of enjoyment, all thanks to you dedicated volunteers — the repair crews and everyone who keeps this Playground and Lydgate’s beach area so pristine. Mahalo!”

• Tommy Noyes is Kaua‘i Path’s executive director, a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor and active with the Kaua‘i Medical Reserve Corps.