My name is Andrea Yuen, 5th grade teacher, and one of two robotics coaches for Kaunakakai Elementary School. I am testifying in support of Maui Economic Development Boardʻs Economic Development Grant under the Maui County Office of Economic Development. MEDB has supported my classroom for many years. I would like to share just some of the specific examples of how MEDB has helped. MEDB purchased student online licenses, led virtual trainings for my students to help develop their Computer Science knowledge, and provided hands-on materials so my students could practice and learn coding skills. The resources MEDB provides helps to keep my students on top of the ever changing technology. As a teacher, I appreciate that MEDB provides professional development to teachers and provides the materials that I will need to implement my new learning in the classroom. I am excited to attend a PD led by MEDB as I feel like I am able to teach what is relevant in computer science.
In addition, Kaunakakai Robotics has also greatly benefitted from the support of MEDB. Kaunakakai Robotics earned the opportunity to compete in the VEX IQ Worlds Competition in Dallas, Texas. Traveling out of State is very expensive. MEDB recognizes the benefits of having students travel to new places to develop communication, perseverance, and problem solving skills with students from around the world. We greatly appreciate MEDB helping us provide this opportunity for Kaunakakai Robotics members.
Again, I am Andrea Yuen and I am in support of Maui Economic Development Boardʻs Economic Development Grant under the Maui County Office of Economic Development.
Andrea Yuen,
Kaunakakai School
NBCT & Robotics Coach
My name is Joanne Pryor, and I am a resident of Molokai; participant in Molokai's Kupuna program and member of the Molokai Arts Center. Molokai's Art Center is more than an activity for artists. It is a community organization dedicated to serving all residents of the island to express themselves and join in mutual or individual projects. My weekly Kupuna Ceramics class, offered by Maui's program and facilitated by the Molokai Art's Center, is the highlight of many of our weeks. It is more than just playing with clay, it is a mental health tool where we talk about our individual issues and help each other resolve them or offer guidance while creating and adding dimension to our lives. Without that opportunity, our senior population would wither.
The Kupuna organization is a vehicle to living alone with confidence and support. Whether it is stretching, tai chi, painting, ceramics, home assistance and so much more. It offers us the ability to improve our lives through independence and resources to offer us control and education. I have met many who rely on these programs for mobility and mental stimulation.
Molokai's Arts Center brings the island of Molokai visibility and learning. In the last decade, I have attended workshops by internationally renowned arts, educators, and authors. Through their charter as a non-profit, they make sure that the Members, Keiki, Kupuna and general island population are served. The program's the MAC offers touch each aspect of our island people, with emphasis on Cultural interaction, through the exchange of information. They offer ceramics, painting, gardening, making chocolate, instrumental presentations, or even the spoken word. It is irreplaceable.
These organizations have improved my life, my health, and my well-being. I appreciate your continued or increased funding and as a property owner, I accept that my taxes and representation at the County level is used to benefit my community.
Thank you,
I am Alice Cabael Ka’ahanui, Executive Director of the13-year-old Molokai Arts Center, or MAC, our island’s only 501(c)3 nonprofit arts education organization. I am also the President of the Kaunakakai Filipino Association (member Molokai Filipino Community Council), Molokai/Lana’i Outreach Coordinator for FilCom CARES, and a member of the Molokai Middle School Community Council and Ho’olehua Homesteaders Association. On the state level, I’m the Secretary of the Hawaii Museums Association, partner for State Foundation on Culture & the Arts ARTS FIRST team, and member of Ola Hawaii Community Engagement Core Advisory Board.
I mention all of this because I am appealing to you, the County Council, to ensure that those of us in the nonprofit sector promoting Culture & the Arts, Education, and Health, in partnership with government agencies, are able to continue servicing our rural, often times neglected Molokai community. Help our organizations to partner with Maui County to provide ACCESS.
We are grateful to Maui County for funds granted for the MAC Pānaʻi Aloha program which enabled us to bring Molokai to the Arts and the Arts to Molokai. We often equate culture and the arts with high society. Many on Molokai don’t have access to museums and concert venues. If you don’t have the resources, you don’t have ACCESS.
The Maui OED-sponsored program allowed residents of all ages to create and explore their artistic spirit at low to no cost. At a time when the pandemic squeezed out our social emotional learning through art; ‘cause we know the Arts, including music, in the schools is not prioritized; Maui OED recognized the need for a therapeutic outlet as well as the need for artists who were kept silent for two years due to funding, to earn a living again. It helped pay for instructors and subsidized costs to operate the classes.
We are also grateful for funds that allow us to partner with agencies such as the Molokai Rural Health Community Association. There is a distinct joy in the eyes of the kupuna when they create their own ceramic plate or bowl alongside their peers. They thoroughly enjoy the classes and the Kupuna program makes it possible for them to participate. The kupuna themselves have even asked us to help expand their ACCESS to our arts programs.
Contrary to popular belief, the MAC is not just Ceramics and Pottery. Recently we hosted Chamber Music Hawaii who performed a Hawaiian language dramatization. We had artists and musicians from our neighbors Oahu and Maui, to throughout the continental US, Spain, and Bali - just last year. We also had Hawaiian Arts Classes, painting and chocolate-making in Halawa, and a screenwriting class by an award-winning TV screenwriter.
We are fiscal sponsor for the Molokai Instrumental Music Education program, Mālama Molokai Wellness (whose Saturday Market was subsidized by OED and helped artists sell their work), Hōkulani Children’s Theatre of Molokai, and Te Ora Roa Tahitian dance company.
We are a small island. Oftentimes we don’t get the grants or the funding because we don’t have “the numbers.” Or maybe it’s that we seem to be duplicating services provided by Maui for Molokai. But each and every one of our Molokai residents deserve ACCESS --- to the arts, to education, to health services --- even if they cannot afford it or the way we look on paper is disproportionate to larger areas in our county.
A number of organizations I named will be applying for grants and funding that will come from this Budget. We have great partnerships between our schools, agencies, and organizations on Molokai – MEO bus transportation who bring kupuna and keiki to the MAC; MRHCA I mentioned earlier; 21st Century after school program; and the Boys & Girls Club mentioned tonight would be a potential partner. I hope that when you consider the Budget, you remember to include the unique nature of Molokai during your deliberations --- we are separate entities that seem small in number, but we work together to deliver needed services to ALL of Molokai.
Watch our 10-year anniversary video https://youtu.be/VquQhJ-jYi4 and view photos of our programs on our Molokai Arts Center Facebook page.
Aloha.
Mahalo for all of your efforts in completing next year's budget.
If possible, I'd like to see some of the Parks and Recreation funding be allocated to Kilohana Rec Center in East Molokai for our youth. This will benefit our community greatly especially due to ease of access to location.
Please see my attached testimony.
Mahalo in advance for your attention and consideration.
With warm regards,
Zaida Place
Aloha Mayor Bissen,
Happy to report, the business and financial classes/meetings I have attended for study with Molokai Business Development Center (Lily) were and continue to be superior learning experiences for me.
Thanks,
Jean C. Roper
Aloha Mayor Bissen,
My name is Andrea Dudoit, owner of Homestead Grinds, LLC. I attended the Molokai MEO Core Four business classes in 2022. I learned important steps in these classes that will help me succeed in my company. It has also aided me in creating a business strategy with specific objectives.
I also received funding from MEO Ag. With the help of this grant, my company will have access to healthier choices, new farming techniques, new homegrown crops, lower inventory costs, and more. One of the many crucial elements in ensuring a prosperous farm and way of life is farm to table. Homegrown crops have frequently been destroyed by deer, which has also made the areas unsanitary. I'll be installing fencing to keep deer herds out of my yard using the Ag grant money.
Thank you MEO BDC for your services, programs, and classes.
Aloha Mayor Bissen,
My husband and I would like to say "Thank you" for your MEO Business Development Services and the services they provide. Mahalo for the Agricultural Micro Grant Program, words cannot express our gratitude of how this grant has improved and moved our farm forward to keep up with our demands. By simplifying our farming procedures and day to day activities.
Again, MAHALO!!
Faith Tupola
The MEO Micro Ag Grant helped both a 40-year existing Agribusiness that never received grant funding before but progressed through loans and credit cards, and a start-up Agribusiness. These farms are owned and operated by long-time generational Molokai homestead families that believe in making use of our homestead lands to create economic stability while growing more for our island. Both farms have been using mostly hand tools and physical energy, slowly growing and expanding.
This first time grant will help our farms be more efficient and effective in expanding our production. Mahalo to MEO through County funds for
recognizing long-time generational family farms needing the extra support to grow and expand.
Kilia Purdy-Avelino
Aloha Mayor Bissen and Maui County Council Members, I am writing in support of the Molokai Arts Center. I am a regenerative farmer on the east end of Molokai and have been a member of MAC for nearly a year. In that time I have taken a watercolor class and a chocolate making class in Halawa Valley, and have attended a ceramics workshop with a renowned visiting artist, and I continue to attend weekly open studio hours. Molokai Arts Center is an asset to this island. It brings people of all ages and walks of life together providing opportunities for enrichment and community that simply do not exist outside of this space. Your continued support of this organization has great impact on the vitality of arts and community on Molokai. It is with great appreciation that we see it continue and grow. Mahalo, Bianca West
Aloha Mayor Bissen, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Maui County Members,
I want to take this time to thank you all for funding our "Molokai Rural Health Community Association" and providing our Molokai Kupuna with services we need and enjoy.
My husband and I took advantage of the many services that Kuulei Arce and her amazing staff worked hard on and provided, such as: painting, hair cuts, food distributions, massages, house cleaning, informational sessions: medicare and social security, lauhala workshops, gift certificates and lunch plate distribution and the list goes on. We appreciate the monthly calendar, weekly, daily emails and phone calls it kept us informed and we felt included as a Kupuna.
These services are very important for us as we need these services more then ever now. Extending this awesome program will greatly benefit a lot of Kupuna here on Molokai. I can't wait what another year will bring for not only my husband and I, but all Kupuna here on Molokai.
Thank you for taking the time to read our letter, greatly appreciate you all.
Submitting testimony URGING the Mayor & County Council to reinstate the ʻFire Fighter Iʻ position for Pukoʻo fire station in East Molokai into the personnel section of Dept of Fire & Public Safetyʻs proposal for Maui County budget FY 2024.
Every engine company in MFD is staffed by five (5) personnel: a Captain, an Operator, and three (3) Firefighter I.
EXCEPT FOR….
Pukoʻo engine company in East Molokai, which is staffed by only two (2) personnel: a Captain and an Operator, with zero (0) Firefighter I to support critical ground operations.
While last yearʻs budget changed the configuration of Pukoʻo fire station from Operator & Firefighter I to Captain & Operator, this change did not solve the safety issues associated with understaffing of the engine company. Pukoʻo engine continues to respond to every emergency in our community with an incomplete company which lacks at the very least ONE (1) Firefighter I.
This situation also poses a legitimate question as to the legality of maintaining a void in staffing, where an officer is now required to perform the official duties specifically assigned to the Firefighter I position. Departmental reference documents clearly defines and differentiates the Firefighter I role and job descriptions which are absent from the job description of officer positions.
The Firefighter I position is an absolutely essential component to the proper operation of any functional Fire Company. Again, I appeal to my leaders in county government to balance this substantial deficit by reinstating the Firefighter I position at Pukoʻo fire station.
Molokai Rural Health - Budget Finance & EcoDev Committee
Mahalo for supporting this much needed program on the island. As a caregiver for my mom, we have appreciated the services for the island kupuna. Mahalo.
I am writing on behalf of our business Na'ike LLC located on Molokai. We are a small native hawaiian owned and operated business. We help our agricultural system by creating value-added products for the retail market throughout the pae 'aina. This supports our local economy by increasing demand for fresh, locally grown produce and decreasing the demand for imported produce to Hawaii. Na'ike LLC is a diversified business that produces value-added goods that we wholesale & retail throughout multiple platforms. We distribute goods to 10 stores island-wide, produce our own shoyu chili pepper blend, and own vending machines that feature locally sourced pre-packaged items, in addition to selling through the Sustainable Molokai Mobile Market. Our newest addition has 26 egg layers & an expansion plan for chili pepper crops with more vegetables and herbs to feature in our food service. The grant funds we have received over the years has increased our ability to continue and expand this needed service. Kuha'o Business Center is a great resource of information and motivation along with the MEO Business Development Center and Department of Agriculture. We would like to see the continued support of agricultural grants focused on native Hawaiian small scale farming. We appreciate your continued support in our mission to support Molokai farmers by creating sweet and savory sauces and foods. Our vision is to lead by example alongside Molokai businesses.
Mahalo nui for funding the Kupuna Program on Molokai. As a participant in this program, I appreciate the un-duplicated services being offered for Kupuna here on Molokai.
I have received and participated in the following services and activities;
Yard Service, Computer Classes, Informational sessions for Social Security and Medicare, Lomilomi, Haircuts and Yoga.
There are others I have yet to utilize. These are valuable services for keeping me mentally and physically active in my Golden Years.
The staff is awesome, respectful and full of Aloha. They are always creating new services and activities to meet our needs.
Again I thank you for your support and humbly ask for your continued funding for this much needed and greatly appreciated program.
Aloha Mayor Bissen and Maui County Council Members, thank you for the past support Maui county has given to Molokai Arts Center. I appreciate the classes and events the Art Center provides. We just enjoyed an evening of music and story by Chamber Music Hawaii. I've attended a screenplay writing workshop and the watercolor Workshop in Halawa Valley is an exceptional treat. Their children's classes are essential. Art lets us express ourselves and connect with our community. I am a resident of Home Pumehana and greatly appreciate the value MAC brings to Molokai with the assistance of Grants from Maui County Office of Economic Development. Please continue this vital program. Mahalo, Ruth Ann Howden, rahowden@gmail.com
I would like to thank you for the funding of programs you have offered for our Kupuna program here on Molokai.
I am a senior who is currently still employed, and I am able to take advantage of the wonderful services offered by Molokai Rural Health Community Association.
Kuulei Arce, the Program Coordinator is always reaching out to us to see what might be helpful for us to have. She has friendly staff who call us on a regular basis to schedule us for the services we need.
I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the massages, getting my hair cut, and a plate lunch giveaway, along with other gifts they give to us, such as a credit for gas or a coupon for food. This is very helpful for Kupuna, as we on a fixed budgets.
I am also looking forward to attending the stretching classes in the near future, and the next Estate Planning workshop when they bring it back.
Services for seniors are limited on Molokai and an extension of this program will be greatly appreciated. I look forward to another year of the enriching services that are being provided by our Kupuna Program.
My name is Perry Buchalter, a recently retired NBCT Art teacher with 25 years of service at Molokai High School. I can't speak highly enough about our Molokai Arts Center both as an educator and a community member and what they have done for my students by giving them an outlet for their creative talents during and after their high school years. I have former students who continue to produce work there and teach classes to the keiki. I've been fortunate to work with them as the featured artist at there painting workshops with participants from all age groups and see the look of fulfillment they get from the creative process. Mahalo for your continued support of this vital entity on our small island.
My name is Michele Jones and I am a long time resident and the acupuncturist on Molokai. I wish to ask for your continued support of our only arts center on island offering classes, materials, and world class engagements with the arts. I have taken many classes and attended dozens of events in my time here of 27 years. The Molokai Arts Center is a vital part of our community. Mahalo to you for supporting it and ensuring it remains such.
Aloha
My name is Caroline K Han Kaholoaa i was born
and raised on Molokai and I'm a 4th generation homesteader my great grandparents left there rich,beautiful abundant land from Waikapu Maui to come to their barren 40 acre raw homestead with no roads, no running water and no electric
However they endured the hardship of raising 8 generations of hard working families on Molokai.
Today we are very fortunate to have been raised on Molokai and wouldn't change our life style for the world.....we choose to live this simple life and do encourage learning the benefits of the arts of the outside world...Molokai is special; special because we are grounded with what little we have and we can survive but we can also be uplifted and enhance our lives with other
Arts of Life around us. I love the talents we all are blessed with and our lives can be richer as we share and learn from one another; the Mac program is one of the greatest avenue we can learn and improve our lives as we share our talents and gifts to bring enlightenment to ones heart and soul. Aloha Caroline Kaholoaa
My name is Andrea Yuen, 5th grade teacher, and one of two robotics coaches for Kaunakakai Elementary School. I am testifying in support of Maui Economic Development Boardʻs Economic Development Grant under the Maui County Office of Economic Development. MEDB has supported my classroom for many years. I would like to share just some of the specific examples of how MEDB has helped. MEDB purchased student online licenses, led virtual trainings for my students to help develop their Computer Science knowledge, and provided hands-on materials so my students could practice and learn coding skills. The resources MEDB provides helps to keep my students on top of the ever changing technology. As a teacher, I appreciate that MEDB provides professional development to teachers and provides the materials that I will need to implement my new learning in the classroom. I am excited to attend a PD led by MEDB as I feel like I am able to teach what is relevant in computer science.
In addition, Kaunakakai Robotics has also greatly benefitted from the support of MEDB. Kaunakakai Robotics earned the opportunity to compete in the VEX IQ Worlds Competition in Dallas, Texas. Traveling out of State is very expensive. MEDB recognizes the benefits of having students travel to new places to develop communication, perseverance, and problem solving skills with students from around the world. We greatly appreciate MEDB helping us provide this opportunity for Kaunakakai Robotics members.
Again, I am Andrea Yuen and I am in support of Maui Economic Development Boardʻs Economic Development Grant under the Maui County Office of Economic Development.
Andrea Yuen,
Kaunakakai School
NBCT & Robotics Coach
My name is Joanne Pryor, and I am a resident of Molokai; participant in Molokai's Kupuna program and member of the Molokai Arts Center. Molokai's Art Center is more than an activity for artists. It is a community organization dedicated to serving all residents of the island to express themselves and join in mutual or individual projects. My weekly Kupuna Ceramics class, offered by Maui's program and facilitated by the Molokai Art's Center, is the highlight of many of our weeks. It is more than just playing with clay, it is a mental health tool where we talk about our individual issues and help each other resolve them or offer guidance while creating and adding dimension to our lives. Without that opportunity, our senior population would wither.
The Kupuna organization is a vehicle to living alone with confidence and support. Whether it is stretching, tai chi, painting, ceramics, home assistance and so much more. It offers us the ability to improve our lives through independence and resources to offer us control and education. I have met many who rely on these programs for mobility and mental stimulation.
Molokai's Arts Center brings the island of Molokai visibility and learning. In the last decade, I have attended workshops by internationally renowned arts, educators, and authors. Through their charter as a non-profit, they make sure that the Members, Keiki, Kupuna and general island population are served. The program's the MAC offers touch each aspect of our island people, with emphasis on Cultural interaction, through the exchange of information. They offer ceramics, painting, gardening, making chocolate, instrumental presentations, or even the spoken word. It is irreplaceable.
These organizations have improved my life, my health, and my well-being. I appreciate your continued or increased funding and as a property owner, I accept that my taxes and representation at the County level is used to benefit my community.
Thank you,
Aloha and Mabuhay!
I am Alice Cabael Ka’ahanui, Executive Director of the13-year-old Molokai Arts Center, or MAC, our island’s only 501(c)3 nonprofit arts education organization. I am also the President of the Kaunakakai Filipino Association (member Molokai Filipino Community Council), Molokai/Lana’i Outreach Coordinator for FilCom CARES, and a member of the Molokai Middle School Community Council and Ho’olehua Homesteaders Association. On the state level, I’m the Secretary of the Hawaii Museums Association, partner for State Foundation on Culture & the Arts ARTS FIRST team, and member of Ola Hawaii Community Engagement Core Advisory Board.
I mention all of this because I am appealing to you, the County Council, to ensure that those of us in the nonprofit sector promoting Culture & the Arts, Education, and Health, in partnership with government agencies, are able to continue servicing our rural, often times neglected Molokai community. Help our organizations to partner with Maui County to provide ACCESS.
We are grateful to Maui County for funds granted for the MAC Pānaʻi Aloha program which enabled us to bring Molokai to the Arts and the Arts to Molokai. We often equate culture and the arts with high society. Many on Molokai don’t have access to museums and concert venues. If you don’t have the resources, you don’t have ACCESS.
The Maui OED-sponsored program allowed residents of all ages to create and explore their artistic spirit at low to no cost. At a time when the pandemic squeezed out our social emotional learning through art; ‘cause we know the Arts, including music, in the schools is not prioritized; Maui OED recognized the need for a therapeutic outlet as well as the need for artists who were kept silent for two years due to funding, to earn a living again. It helped pay for instructors and subsidized costs to operate the classes.
We are also grateful for funds that allow us to partner with agencies such as the Molokai Rural Health Community Association. There is a distinct joy in the eyes of the kupuna when they create their own ceramic plate or bowl alongside their peers. They thoroughly enjoy the classes and the Kupuna program makes it possible for them to participate. The kupuna themselves have even asked us to help expand their ACCESS to our arts programs.
Contrary to popular belief, the MAC is not just Ceramics and Pottery. Recently we hosted Chamber Music Hawaii who performed a Hawaiian language dramatization. We had artists and musicians from our neighbors Oahu and Maui, to throughout the continental US, Spain, and Bali - just last year. We also had Hawaiian Arts Classes, painting and chocolate-making in Halawa, and a screenwriting class by an award-winning TV screenwriter.
We are fiscal sponsor for the Molokai Instrumental Music Education program, Mālama Molokai Wellness (whose Saturday Market was subsidized by OED and helped artists sell their work), Hōkulani Children’s Theatre of Molokai, and Te Ora Roa Tahitian dance company.
We are a small island. Oftentimes we don’t get the grants or the funding because we don’t have “the numbers.” Or maybe it’s that we seem to be duplicating services provided by Maui for Molokai. But each and every one of our Molokai residents deserve ACCESS --- to the arts, to education, to health services --- even if they cannot afford it or the way we look on paper is disproportionate to larger areas in our county.
A number of organizations I named will be applying for grants and funding that will come from this Budget. We have great partnerships between our schools, agencies, and organizations on Molokai – MEO bus transportation who bring kupuna and keiki to the MAC; MRHCA I mentioned earlier; 21st Century after school program; and the Boys & Girls Club mentioned tonight would be a potential partner. I hope that when you consider the Budget, you remember to include the unique nature of Molokai during your deliberations --- we are separate entities that seem small in number, but we work together to deliver needed services to ALL of Molokai.
Watch our 10-year anniversary video https://youtu.be/VquQhJ-jYi4 and view photos of our programs on our Molokai Arts Center Facebook page.
Mahalo for your time.
Aloha.
Mahalo for all of your efforts in completing next year's budget.
If possible, I'd like to see some of the Parks and Recreation funding be allocated to Kilohana Rec Center in East Molokai for our youth. This will benefit our community greatly especially due to ease of access to location.
Please see my attached testimony.
Mahalo in advance for your attention and consideration.
With warm regards,
Zaida Place
Aloha Mayor Bissen,
Happy to report, the business and financial classes/meetings I have attended for study with Molokai Business Development Center (Lily) were and continue to be superior learning experiences for me.
Thanks,
Jean C. Roper
Aloha Mayor Bissen,
My name is Andrea Dudoit, owner of Homestead Grinds, LLC. I attended the Molokai MEO Core Four business classes in 2022. I learned important steps in these classes that will help me succeed in my company. It has also aided me in creating a business strategy with specific objectives.
I also received funding from MEO Ag. With the help of this grant, my company will have access to healthier choices, new farming techniques, new homegrown crops, lower inventory costs, and more. One of the many crucial elements in ensuring a prosperous farm and way of life is farm to table. Homegrown crops have frequently been destroyed by deer, which has also made the areas unsanitary. I'll be installing fencing to keep deer herds out of my yard using the Ag grant money.
Thank you MEO BDC for your services, programs, and classes.
Aloha Mayor Bissen,
My husband and I would like to say "Thank you" for your MEO Business Development Services and the services they provide. Mahalo for the Agricultural Micro Grant Program, words cannot express our gratitude of how this grant has improved and moved our farm forward to keep up with our demands. By simplifying our farming procedures and day to day activities.
Again, MAHALO!!
Faith Tupola
The MEO Micro Ag Grant helped both a 40-year existing Agribusiness that never received grant funding before but progressed through loans and credit cards, and a start-up Agribusiness. These farms are owned and operated by long-time generational Molokai homestead families that believe in making use of our homestead lands to create economic stability while growing more for our island. Both farms have been using mostly hand tools and physical energy, slowly growing and expanding.
This first time grant will help our farms be more efficient and effective in expanding our production. Mahalo to MEO through County funds for
recognizing long-time generational family farms needing the extra support to grow and expand.
Kilia Purdy-Avelino
Aloha Mayor Bissen and Maui County Council Members, I am writing in support of the Molokai Arts Center. I am a regenerative farmer on the east end of Molokai and have been a member of MAC for nearly a year. In that time I have taken a watercolor class and a chocolate making class in Halawa Valley, and have attended a ceramics workshop with a renowned visiting artist, and I continue to attend weekly open studio hours. Molokai Arts Center is an asset to this island. It brings people of all ages and walks of life together providing opportunities for enrichment and community that simply do not exist outside of this space. Your continued support of this organization has great impact on the vitality of arts and community on Molokai. It is with great appreciation that we see it continue and grow. Mahalo, Bianca West
Aloha Mayor Bissen, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Maui County Members,
I want to take this time to thank you all for funding our "Molokai Rural Health Community Association" and providing our Molokai Kupuna with services we need and enjoy.
My husband and I took advantage of the many services that Kuulei Arce and her amazing staff worked hard on and provided, such as: painting, hair cuts, food distributions, massages, house cleaning, informational sessions: medicare and social security, lauhala workshops, gift certificates and lunch plate distribution and the list goes on. We appreciate the monthly calendar, weekly, daily emails and phone calls it kept us informed and we felt included as a Kupuna.
These services are very important for us as we need these services more then ever now. Extending this awesome program will greatly benefit a lot of Kupuna here on Molokai. I can't wait what another year will bring for not only my husband and I, but all Kupuna here on Molokai.
Thank you for taking the time to read our letter, greatly appreciate you all.
Mahalo,
Gussie & Morrency Dudoit
Submitting testimony URGING the Mayor & County Council to reinstate the ʻFire Fighter Iʻ position for Pukoʻo fire station in East Molokai into the personnel section of Dept of Fire & Public Safetyʻs proposal for Maui County budget FY 2024.
Every engine company in MFD is staffed by five (5) personnel: a Captain, an Operator, and three (3) Firefighter I.
EXCEPT FOR….
Pukoʻo engine company in East Molokai, which is staffed by only two (2) personnel: a Captain and an Operator, with zero (0) Firefighter I to support critical ground operations.
While last yearʻs budget changed the configuration of Pukoʻo fire station from Operator & Firefighter I to Captain & Operator, this change did not solve the safety issues associated with understaffing of the engine company. Pukoʻo engine continues to respond to every emergency in our community with an incomplete company which lacks at the very least ONE (1) Firefighter I.
This situation also poses a legitimate question as to the legality of maintaining a void in staffing, where an officer is now required to perform the official duties specifically assigned to the Firefighter I position. Departmental reference documents clearly defines and differentiates the Firefighter I role and job descriptions which are absent from the job description of officer positions.
The Firefighter I position is an absolutely essential component to the proper operation of any functional Fire Company. Again, I appeal to my leaders in county government to balance this substantial deficit by reinstating the Firefighter I position at Pukoʻo fire station.
Thank you.
Laʻa Poepoe
Molokai Rural Health - Budget Finance & EcoDev Committee
Mahalo for supporting this much needed program on the island. As a caregiver for my mom, we have appreciated the services for the island kupuna. Mahalo.
Lu Ann Mahiki Lankford-Faborito
I am writing on behalf of our business Na'ike LLC located on Molokai. We are a small native hawaiian owned and operated business. We help our agricultural system by creating value-added products for the retail market throughout the pae 'aina. This supports our local economy by increasing demand for fresh, locally grown produce and decreasing the demand for imported produce to Hawaii. Na'ike LLC is a diversified business that produces value-added goods that we wholesale & retail throughout multiple platforms. We distribute goods to 10 stores island-wide, produce our own shoyu chili pepper blend, and own vending machines that feature locally sourced pre-packaged items, in addition to selling through the Sustainable Molokai Mobile Market. Our newest addition has 26 egg layers & an expansion plan for chili pepper crops with more vegetables and herbs to feature in our food service. The grant funds we have received over the years has increased our ability to continue and expand this needed service. Kuha'o Business Center is a great resource of information and motivation along with the MEO Business Development Center and Department of Agriculture. We would like to see the continued support of agricultural grants focused on native Hawaiian small scale farming. We appreciate your continued support in our mission to support Molokai farmers by creating sweet and savory sauces and foods. Our vision is to lead by example alongside Molokai businesses.
Aloha Mayor Bissen and Maui Council Members,
Mahalo nui for funding the Kupuna Program on Molokai. As a participant in this program, I appreciate the un-duplicated services being offered for Kupuna here on Molokai.
I have received and participated in the following services and activities;
Yard Service, Computer Classes, Informational sessions for Social Security and Medicare, Lomilomi, Haircuts and Yoga.
There are others I have yet to utilize. These are valuable services for keeping me mentally and physically active in my Golden Years.
The staff is awesome, respectful and full of Aloha. They are always creating new services and activities to meet our needs.
Again I thank you for your support and humbly ask for your continued funding for this much needed and greatly appreciated program.
Mahalo,
Kalola Kaulili
Aloha Mayor Bissen and Maui County Council Members, thank you for the past support Maui county has given to Molokai Arts Center. I appreciate the classes and events the Art Center provides. We just enjoyed an evening of music and story by Chamber Music Hawaii. I've attended a screenplay writing workshop and the watercolor Workshop in Halawa Valley is an exceptional treat. Their children's classes are essential. Art lets us express ourselves and connect with our community. I am a resident of Home Pumehana and greatly appreciate the value MAC brings to Molokai with the assistance of Grants from Maui County Office of Economic Development. Please continue this vital program. Mahalo, Ruth Ann Howden, rahowden@gmail.com
Dear Mayor Bissen and Council Members,
I would like to thank you for the funding of programs you have offered for our Kupuna program here on Molokai.
I am a senior who is currently still employed, and I am able to take advantage of the wonderful services offered by Molokai Rural Health Community Association.
Kuulei Arce, the Program Coordinator is always reaching out to us to see what might be helpful for us to have. She has friendly staff who call us on a regular basis to schedule us for the services we need.
I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the massages, getting my hair cut, and a plate lunch giveaway, along with other gifts they give to us, such as a credit for gas or a coupon for food. This is very helpful for Kupuna, as we on a fixed budgets.
I am also looking forward to attending the stretching classes in the near future, and the next Estate Planning workshop when they bring it back.
Services for seniors are limited on Molokai and an extension of this program will be greatly appreciated. I look forward to another year of the enriching services that are being provided by our Kupuna Program.
Thank you,
Diane
My name is Perry Buchalter, a recently retired NBCT Art teacher with 25 years of service at Molokai High School. I can't speak highly enough about our Molokai Arts Center both as an educator and a community member and what they have done for my students by giving them an outlet for their creative talents during and after their high school years. I have former students who continue to produce work there and teach classes to the keiki. I've been fortunate to work with them as the featured artist at there painting workshops with participants from all age groups and see the look of fulfillment they get from the creative process. Mahalo for your continued support of this vital entity on our small island.
Aloha,
My name is Michele Jones and I am a long time resident and the acupuncturist on Molokai. I wish to ask for your continued support of our only arts center on island offering classes, materials, and world class engagements with the arts. I have taken many classes and attended dozens of events in my time here of 27 years. The Molokai Arts Center is a vital part of our community. Mahalo to you for supporting it and ensuring it remains such.
Aloha
My name is Caroline K Han Kaholoaa i was born
and raised on Molokai and I'm a 4th generation homesteader my great grandparents left there rich,beautiful abundant land from Waikapu Maui to come to their barren 40 acre raw homestead with no roads, no running water and no electric
However they endured the hardship of raising 8 generations of hard working families on Molokai.
Today we are very fortunate to have been raised on Molokai and wouldn't change our life style for the world.....we choose to live this simple life and do encourage learning the benefits of the arts of the outside world...Molokai is special; special because we are grounded with what little we have and we can survive but we can also be uplifted and enhance our lives with other
Arts of Life around us. I love the talents we all are blessed with and our lives can be richer as we share and learn from one another; the Mac program is one of the greatest avenue we can learn and improve our lives as we share our talents and gifts to bring enlightenment to ones heart and soul. Aloha Caroline Kaholoaa