Hawaii Habitat News

April 2011

There’s a lot going on in the Hawaii Habitat for Humanity office and we’re

excited to share the news!

Thanks for helping us hammer

it home! Wednesday, April 20th was Hawaii Habitat’s Third Annual Legis-lative Nail Driving contest held at the State Capitol. From 9-11am, legisla-

tors and their staff joined us to see who could drive the most nails into a block of wood in 1 minute to make some noise at the Capitol and draw attention to the need for affordable housing in Hawaii. Mahalo to Lee-ward and Honolulu Habitat for their help with materials and volunteers for the event and mahalo to all of this year’s participants! The winning legislators were Representative Cindy Evans and Representative Tom Brower, and the top staff members were returning champs Ola Kakalia and Larry Sagaysay and newcomer Bernadette Fo. Congratulations to all of this year's winners! The First Annual Hawaii Habi-

tat Conference is less than 2

months away, and we are deep in

planning mode, meeting, and iron-

ing out details. The two-day

event will be held Thursday and

Friday June 23rd and 24th in

Honolulu. Habitat representa-

tives throughout the state will be

brought together to share in net-working and learning opportuni-

ties and to attend workshops on

leadership, board training, fam-

ily services, resource develop-

ment, and sustainable building.

We are fortunate to be able to

deliver a diverse set of work-

shops with the help of local pre-

senters as well as Ginny Claborn

and Mark Lassman-Eul, Organ-

izational Development Consult-

ants from Habitat for Humanity

International. Hawaii Habitat for

Humanity will be funding our affiliate Executive Directors,

Family Selection/Services net-

working group and Construction

Site Supervisors networking

group representatives to fly in

for this event, however we invite

and strongly encourage all Habi-

tat representatives who can to

attend this rare opportunity to

network with HFHI staff and

your fellow Hawaii Habitat affili-

ates! Mahalo to our event sponsors

which include the Department of Ha-

waiian Homelands, The Federal Re-serve Bank of San Francisco and

Habitat for Humanity International.

Stay tuned for registration informa-

tion. If you’d like updates on the con-

ference, please contact Laura Fay at

the Hawaii Habitat office.

The first garden and aquaponics

installation for a Honolulu Habitat

family through our Swayne Family

Foundation grant is right around

the corner and our office is turning

into a greenhouse! Last year we were

awarded a $15,000 grant from the

Foundation for a pilot Local Food

Production Program. This innovative

program will provide fruit trees and

raised garden beds and an aq-uaponics system for 21 Habitat

homeowner families statewide, or 3

per affiliate. The aquaponics system

will run on solar energy and is being

designed specifically for our home-

owners by Hawaii Habitat’s Green

Building Associate VISTA member,

Mike Day (please see sidenote on

page 7 for more information on ex-

actly what an aquaponics system is

and how it works). Our office is

working with affiliates to select in-

terested families and will be on site

with each affiliate over the summer along with volunteers and commu-

Hammer and Nail

Representative Dee Morikawa enjoying our 2011 “Hammer It Home” Legislative Nail Driving competi-

tion at the state Capitol

The Department of Hawaiian Homelands

With special thanks to our sponsors:

their Habitat home just before Christ-mas in 2010 and was in need of furni-ture, and Junior responded in a big way which is typical of his giving spirit. Jun-ior is involved with homeless shelters along the Leeward Coast and has sup-plied many of them with furniture as well. Mahalo nui loa to Junior Atisanoe.

Leeward Habitat held a clean-up on February 27th on their property in Maili. Volunteers got rid of over 400 tires that have been dumped on the site over the years, with the help of 50 – 80 of their most faithful volunteers, as well as sev-eral groups of military volunteers. Ma-

Hawaii Habitat Board of

Directors

President

Chandler Rowe

Vice president

Richard Emery

Treasurer

Jean Lilley

Darryl Banks

Tom Bartlett

Senator Suzanne Chun- Oakland

Mike Dang

Ron Davis

Abe Lee

Ty Nohara

Emillia Noordhoek

Diane Quitiquit

Michele Robles

Peter Savio

Jody Shiroma Perreira

Michele Robles

Staff

Kathleen Hasegawa

Executive Director

Mandy Jansen

Operations Manager

Mike Day

Green Building Associate

Laura Fay

Affiliate and Community

Relations/Fundraising

Leeward Habitat is looking for volun-teers to help out at their “Rodney Villanueva 1st Annual Celebrahtee Charitee Golf Tournament on May 26 at the Hawaii Prince Golf Club. All pro-ceeds from the event will benefit Lee-ward Habitat and their efforts to build simple decent homes on the Leeward coast of O‟ahu. If you‟d like to help out or participate please contact the Lee-ward Habitat office at 696-7882.

In early February Leeward Habitat bid aloha to their bookkeeper Ana Pilo-ton. Ana had been working tirelessly to further Leeward Habitat‟s mission since she began work with the affiliate in May of 2008 and she will be missed. Good luck to Ana on her future endeav-ors!

Tiffany Marshall will be joining the Leeward Habitat „ohana as the new part-time Office Manager/Bookkeeper. She is a military spouse and lives on Schofield. E komo mai to Tiffany.

The affiliate wishes to send a big ma-halo to Junior Atisanoe from Kapolei for donations of dressers, night stands, lamps, mirrors, paintings, and more to their latest Habitat home build in Nana-kuli. The Kealoha family moved into

Page 2

Amaya Kali supervisors Kauai Habitat volunteers who are building her future

home.

nity partners to install the gardens,

trees, and aquaponics systems and

to provide education to the fami-

lies. We are very excited to see how

the first garden installation, sched-

uled for May, turns out, but will be sad to say goodbye to all the plants

sprouting up around our office. For

more information or to volunteer

for this project, please contact

Mike at the Hawaii Habitat office,

847-7676.

Affiliate News

Leeward O’ahu

Before and after shots of the Kalanui Kealoha home built by Habitat Leeward

O’ahu

2010 Volunteer of the Year. Eisele, who has served as volun-teer coordinator, helped to update the Habitat web-site, served on the Habitat De-velopment Com-mittee and, most recently, partici-pated on the board of direc-tors, was fea-tured in the Ha-waii Tribune Herald last week for her efforts. Congrats to Adri-enne! The affiliate‟s latest home for the Kahee family is coming along and should have a final inspection soon with a blessing scheduled for April. The Exchange Club volunteered to "spring clean" at the home by wiping down all surfaces, fixtures and windows (in and out), and doing yard work.

Hilo Habitat would like to bid „aloha‟

and farewell to ReStore Manager Polly

MacRoberts who is moving to Maui

where her husband has accepted em-

ployment. Her last day was April

1st. Polly has been a great asset to Hilo

Habitat and has helped them get really

close to achieving their sales goals for

the retail outlet. Aloha Polly!

Habitat West Hawaii is busy planning

their annual Kokua „Ohana event to

recognize various businesses and

groups that have lent support to their

efforts over the past year. This year‟s

invite-only event will be held on Tues-

day April 26th at the affiliate ReStore.

This year the Board of Directors, staff

and volunteers of Habitat West Hawaii

have selected Hilton Grand Vacations

Club, Pohakuloa Training Center, La-

hela Kulana Corporation and Kona

Trans to be recognized.

Page 3

halo to all of the volunteers who dedi-cated their Sunday to helping Habitat!

Kauai Habitat was recently the recipient of a generous gift - $253,500 from the Department of Transportation‟s 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill for meri-torious programs. The funding will help the affiliate development infrastructure for 26 homes for low income families on their property in Ele‟ele. They were rec-ommended for the award by a member of their Board of Directors, and the funding will go a long way towards helping them achieve their goal of building another 100 homes for families on Kauai.

Another great piece of news from the Garden Isle is that the affiliate recently received a guaranty from DHHL that will allow them to begin their first home remodel. The first homeowner to benefit from this program is a young woman who has been sharing an over-crowded home with several family members. She never thought she‟d be able to afford a home of her own until she inherited a 30 year old home from her Aunty. She has already rallied the troops of her „ohana to gut the house to the frame and floors and is so enthusi-astic and excited to be given the oppor-tunity to make the house safe, decent, and her own. Mahalo to Kauai Habitat‟s newest potential homeowner for re-minding us why we do the work that we do!

Hilo Habitat recently recognized long time volunteer, Adrienne Eisele, as their

West Hawaii has recently added

Development Coordination to the job

description of Isobel Donovan, their

multi-talented ReStore Coordinator.

The Development Coordinator posi-

tion is key at Habitat as Isobel will be

responsible for increasing the affiliate‟s

support from core funders, charitable

foundations, corporate sponsors, local

and regional business donors, the

County, State and Federal Govern-

ment. In the short time she has been in

this position, Isobel has been instru-

mental in expanding Habitat West Ha-

waii‟s support base.

The affiliate will be starting new

builds soon in Kawaihae and is look-

ing for Site Supervisors. The main

responsibility for the Site Supervisor is

to organize and manage the construc-

tion of the home from the site work to

completion. For more details, please

contact the Habitat for Humanity West

Hawaii office at 808-331-8010.

Honolulu Habitat for Humanity will be holding a series of information ses-sions for those interested in applying for a home or gaining more informa-tion on their program. A representa-tive from the Family Selection Com-

Hilo

The Hilo Exchange Club poses after doing spring cleaning at the Kahee home

West Hawaii

Honolulu

Habitat West Hawaii volunteers unload furniture donated by Hilton Grand Vacation Club

Kauai

Maui,” which focuses on Maui non profits, was on site to film the day‟s events to be featured on their program. You can check out the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0D5qlTaD74 . A group from Thrivent was re-cently out to help as well, and the affiliate is also thankful for a group of volunteers and a $3,000 donation from State Farm for the Alo home. Ma-halo! Maui Habitat will once again be participating in the Maui Hotel Association‟s

Charity Walk event themed “Put Your Best Slippah Forward” on Saturday May 14, 2011. Pledges are being sought at this time. A minimum of $35 needs to be raised by each person walking in the event. All proceeds raised by Habitat for Humanity Maui comes back to us and MHA will match up to 100%! The affili-ate is looking for as many people (individuals, students, church groups, and businesses) as possible to help them raise pledges for this wonderful event. Maui Habitat has assembled a fun, enthusiastic group of people who are passionate about the mission of Habitat to be a part of their fundraising commit-tee. This group will coordinate events, develop donor relationships, search for grants, solicit donations and help with direct mail projects. Mahalo to the new committee which includes:

Affiliate News, Continued

mittee will be there to explain the Habitat process, answer questions, and provide applications. Families that have land (Hawaiian Homelands, fam-ily land, or any kind of owned land) need to attend one of these sessions if they wish to apply:

Sat. May 21—11 am-12pm. Waima-nalo Public Library, 41-320 Kalanianaole Hwy, Waimanalo

Sat. May 28—11 am-12 pm. Papakolea Community Center, 2150 Tantalus Dr, Honolulu

Sat. June 4, - 11 am-12pm. Papakolea Community Center, 2150 Tantalus Drive, Honolulu

Sat. June 11— 11 am-12pm. Waima-nalo Public Library, 41-320 Kalanianaole Hwy, Waimanalo

Tues. June 14th—6pm-7pm. Kahuku Public Library, 56-490 Kamehameha Hwy, Kahuku

Punahou School‟s Student Global Leadership initiative team has been working with Honolulu Habitat to increase water efficiency by installing rain barrels on Habitat homes. The project culminated with installation of rain barrels at the Vasconcellos home in Waialua. The rain barrels are con-nected to the home‟s gutters and downspouts, to catch runoff from rain. The water can be used for any outdoor purpose, such as watering plants, washing a car, or rinsing your feet af-ter a day at the beach. The rain barrels will also result in lower utility bills for Habitat families. The SGLI team‟s work resulted in a $5,000 grant from the Weinberg Foundation to Honolulu Habitat to support future building ef-forts. Moving forward, rain barrels will be installed on all future Honolulu Habitat for Humanity homes. The students are creating a step-by-step installation handbook for Habitat vol-unteers to use in installation of future rain barrels. The affiliate looks forward

to renewing their commitment to sus-tainability by installing rain barrels at all of our homes.

On Saturday February 12th Hono-lulu Habitat Board of Directors and Committee members “worked hard, got dirty, and made a difference,” at the Habitat Board and Committee Build Day at the Vasconcellos home in Waialua. Board and Committee mem-bers proved once again that they are truly supportive of Habitat‟s mission; through sitting at meetings, works with the community and families, AND a willingness to lift hammers, paint brushes and power tools. Mahalo nui!

The dedication for Honolulu Habi-tat‟s first home on the North Shore for the Vasconcellos family was held on Saturday, April 9th. Congratulations to Honolulu Habitat for putting another family into a simple, decent, affordable home!

Habitat for Humanity Maui is making some real progress on the Alo family home in Kula – the home is currently being prepped for drywall and await-ing electrical and plumbing inspection. Several groups have been coming out to help the affiliate on the home. Bubba Gump sent a great lunch and a team out to work for the day. The same day, Maui Magazine‟s web-based video series “Making Over

Page 4

Maui

Honolulu Habitat Board President Tara Young paints at

the Vasconcellos family home in Waialua

Bubba Gump donated time and lunch on the

Alo family build site in Kula

Hawaiian Community Assets (HCA) has been working to strengthen Hawaii‟s families using homeownership and financial literacy in the islands for over 10 years. HCA‟s mission of increasing the capac-ity of low income indi-

viduals to achieve economic self-sufficiency aligns directly with Habi-tat‟s work of building simple, decent homes in partnership with low income families, making them a community partner worth getting to know. Mi-chelle Kauhane, Executive Director, recently took the time to answer some questions about their work and how Habitat families can benefit from their programs. Q: Why is homebuyer education and financial literacy important? A: Homebuyer education and financial literacy provide families and individu-als with the tools and skills to make homeownership, post-secondary edu-cation, or business start-up a real-ity. According to the National Finan-cial Education Endowment, as little as 10 hours of financial education can positively impact the spending and savings habits of individuals. At HCA, families who walk through our door increase their use of budgeting tools, actively save and/or pay down debt, and, on average, improve credit scores by 101 points after engaging in 12-24 months of homebuyer education, individual-ized credit counseling, and access to asset building programs. But the importance of homebuyer edu-cation and financial literacy is about more than just the num-bers. Research proves that the #1 reason for divorce in the US is due to financial stress. We also have to

recognize that economically depressed communities have higher rates of crime, drug abuse, and health prob-lems and are at greater risk of being victims of predatory financial prod-ucts. Homebuyer education and finan-cial literacy is a way for us to manage stress in our lives so we can raise happy, healthy families, while at the same time become part of a bigger movement to increase the economic self-sufficiency of our communities by first managing our own resources wisely. What kind of initiatives is HCA fo-cusing on right now? In 2010 HCA launched its statewide Family Financial Education Initiative which seeks to engage families and youth in free, culturally-relevant finan-cial education and asset building and retention strategies in their own com-munities. HCA is keenly aware that each community has their own way of organizing to meet their needs and that financial education is most effec-tive when it is tailored to the unique situation of each community. As part of this initiative, HCA has developed and updated its culturally-relevant Kahua Waiwai curricula, trained train-ers from community-based, financial, and education organizations statewide

Page 5

Hawaiian Community Assets: Spotlight on a Community Partner

Michelle Kau-hane, Execu-

tive Director of

HCA

Jack Fisher (Chair) Judy Buettner Theresa Zorz Dawn Hall Wes Durham Robb Haskins Linda Haskins Desiree As Sau Travis Thompson Clarice Holmes Charlene Schulenber The committee will raise funds for Habi-tat for Humanity Maui by coordinating events, developing donor relationships, searching for grants, soliciting donations, and helping with direct mail projects.

Changes abound at Habitat for Hu-manity Maui! “After many years of ser-vice and dedication to the mission of Habitat, we say goodbye to several long-time board members.” said Executive Director Sherri K. Dodson and “We feel honored to have these accomplished members of our community commit to helping Habitat end homelessness here on Maui.”

Aloha to:

Dean Duque, Assistant Vice Presi-dent, First Hawaiian Bank, Lahaina Branch;

Mei Lee Wong, Project Manager with the Dowling Company;

Mark Moser, former CFO Maui Youth and Family Services

John Jaskula, retired General Man-ager of the Marriott Vacation Club.

The affiliate would like to welcome five new Board Members:

Travis Thompson, former Director of Finance for the County of Maui

Ryan Anderson-Teshima, an attor-ney with Maui County Corporation Counsel

Gary Passon, a retired successful businessman from Los Angeles

Bob Novello, past president for the Italian American Social Club, Treas-urer for the Maui Food Bank and a successful local businessman repre-senting Fastenal Company

George Sullivan, the new CFO with Aloha House, Malama Recovery and Maui Youth and Family Services

Affiliate News, Continued

Participants of a Financial Literacy class given

by HCA In Kailua Kona

Page 6

Hawaii Habitat for Humanity has be-

gun an exciting new partnership with

Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods (HLH)

and the Hawaiian Reforestation Initia-

tive (HRI)! The HRI aims to restore

1000 acres of historic koa forest on the

Hamakua coast of the Big Island of

Hawaii. HLF has donated 1,000 acres

of their 2,700 sustainable koa project

for the HRI and is partnering with lo-

cal non-profits, including Hawaii

Hawaii Habitat Partners With Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods

to deliver youth financial education programs, engaged homeless families living in transitional shelters in financial education workshops, one-on-one credit counseling, and community revenue-generating projects, and conducted free tax preparation and foreclosure mitiga-tion outreach to assist families at-risk of losing their homes. Now in 2011, HCA is expanding its initiative to provide free financial education services to un-derserved, rural homebuyers as part of the Hawaii Family Finance Project. Q: How has the economic downturn affected the families you work with? A: HCA is rooted in the philosophy of kahua waiwai (foundation of wealth) where the home is viewed as the kahua (foundation) from which family knowl-edge and spiritual teachings (waiwai) can spring forth. It is the spiritual value of the home and its surroundings that provides stability and the opportunity for families and communities to build a secure future. This philosophy guides every aspect of our work. Unfortu-nately, the economic downturn has put the foundations of our families and their knowledge and spiritual values at-risk as we‟ve seen sharp increases in foreclosures, unemployment, and debt. This has required HCA to walk with a foot in both worlds in terms of financial crisis management and long-term financial planning. On the flip side, we‟ve seen a renewed commit-ment from our families to make positive changes in their spending and savings habits so their children and their chil-dren‟s children will have opportunity in to create a more prosperous, sustainable future.

Q: What is the Hawaii Family Finance Pro-ject? A: The Hawaii Family Finance Project is a 3-year, $3.1 million pro-ject funded by the US Department of Treas-ury to provide Hawaii homebuyers with free homebuyer education and financial literacy services in order to in-crease the rate of home-ownership in our state. The project is being administered by the Council for Native Hawaiian Ad-vancement and delivered by a collabo-rative of housing counseling agencies like HCA, credit unions, and govern-ment agencies. To qualify for enroll-ment into the project, individuals must (1) NOT currently own a home, (2) be at least 18 years old, and (3) earn less than 80% the area median income (http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/hhfdc/resources/income-sales-rent-guidelines). Folks who enroll in this project will be able to access homebuyer and financial educa-tion workshops, one-on-one budget repair and credit counseling, tax prepa-ration services, and match money for debt reduction and down payment and closing costs – all for free! Q: How can Habitat affiliates benefit from the Hawaii Family Finance Pro-ject? A: Habitat affiliates can partner with HCA to enroll families into the Hawaii

Family Finance Project. After complet-ing a simple intake form, Habitat fami-lies can work with HCA staff at one of its statewide offices (Honolulu, Ana-hola, Paukukalo, Hilo) to access a vari-ety of services to financially prepare them as homeowners. Probably the most exciting piece of this project is the fact that enrolled Habitat families are eligible to receive a 3:1 match on sav-ings up to $2,500 for a total of $10,000 toward down payment and closing costs! By taking a community-based approach to homebuyer and financial education, the Hawaii Family Finance Project will help guide Habitat families to financial education providers like HCA so we can together promote the skills necessary to build and retain asset wealth through homeownership. Habi-tat affiliates interested in more informa-tion on the project should contact HCA at (toll-free) 1.866.400.1116.

HCA has been helping families achieve economic self-

sufficiency in Hawaii since 2000.

Habitat, to help through tree sponsor-

ships. Anyone who is interested can

sponsor a Koa Legacy tree for $60. Of

that $60, $20 goes directly to Hawaii

Habitat, $1 goes to the Nature Conser-

vancy, and the rest goes to caring for

the tree. You will also receive an en-

graved certificate and the coordinates

for your tree so you can visit it if you

wish. People often sponsor trees in

someone’s memory. Tree sponsorships

make a great gift. Please spread the

word about this great new partnership,

or sponsor a tree

yourself! It’s a

gift you can feel

good about!

Please visit our

Legacy Trees

website for more

information!

http://www.legacytrees.org/hawaiihabitat/

An aquaponics system is a great com-plement to a backyard garden, a won-derful extension of “malama ‟aina.” and is great for someone who is inter-ested in growing/harvesting their own food.

The system combines the practice of raising fish in a tank and growing plants in water. Basically, fish live in tanks or tubs underneath or near the plants. The waste from the fish enriches the water, which is pumped into the tubs where the plants are growing. The plants are able to use the nutrients from the fish to grow. The plants even help to cleanse the water before it is pumped back into the fish tanks/tubs. Essentially, the plants and the fish are helping each other to thrive by sharing the nutrients that they are unable to use. Most aquapon-ics system purveyors on the island develop medium to large-sized sys-tems for retail or farms. Hawaii Habi-tat has developed a small scale system

which is the perfect size to fit in the yard of a single fam-ily home. The system will be completely solar powered, with no plugs or cords needed to keep the water pumps flow-ing.

We at Hawaii Habitat are very ex-cited to be tak-ing part in this innovative new program with our island homeowners. The benefit of this kind of system to families is that they get to grow their own food and raise their own fish to eat, saving food costs without the up-

keep of the garden. Questions about aquaponics or home gardening? Con-tact Hawaii Habitat‟s resident green thumb, Mike Day at mike@hawaiihabitat.org or 847-7676.

Aquaponics: No Watering, No Weeding….No Worries!

Hawaii Habitat First Annual Conference

Where: Honolulu, O’ahu

When: June 23rd and 24th

Who: Habitat volunteers, staff, partner families and BOD

members

Why: To network, attend

workshops and have fun!

This first time two day event will bring together Habitat representatives to share in networking and learning opportunities and attend workshops including several presented by Habitat for Humanity

International staff. Please plan to take part in in two days of workshops and events and expand your knowledge of Habitat, network with your peers and receive updates from Habitat for Humanity In-

ternational. Call our office for more information! 847-7676

Workshop areas include:

-Leadership

-Board Training

-Family Services

-Sustainable Building

-Resource Development

Registration information will be available soon!