Aloha Chair & Committee members,

Mavis Oliveira-Medeiros of Hana District Office. I cannot stress enough how important it is to finish the last phase of the Community Center in Hana. It is the hub of our community & many many organizations rely on it for business.
Right now, we are taking up the space of the Hana Cultural Center Museum. It’s nice but we’re taking up space that others rely on for their business. The Hana Youth Center is currently at the Hana High School cafeteria & being the only place left to hold larger meetings due to the County Helene Hall & County Community Center Cafe being closed due to renovations that are taking way too long, making it difficult to even have meetings at the Hana High & Elementary school cafeteria since the Youth Center uses it. Our Public Health Nurse & Hana’s UH Maui satellite office with students, are also using space at Hana School. They want their rooms back and the Hana Community is in dire need of a place to have meetings with more than 20 people. Even if the Community center & Helene hall is under renovation, why can’t the community use it? So far, besides fumigating, the hazard removal & painting has been done. The final phase that everyone is awaiting, is the one that will be messy, with ceiling & floor work. We’re quite used to floors & ceilings that could use work.
We’ve been here for 2 1/3 years & the last phase of renovations are nowhere in sight. Who complained to SHPD or gave them the right to slow the already slow progress down?
I’m wondering if contracting out much of the Counties work is working? Why we’re taking bids from Honolulu, when much of the funds will go to housing & trips over & back? Maybe consider taking the next lowest bid if the company is from Maui because not only will the work have a chance at being better quality, you could actually save money in the long run. Maybe consider a County Construction/Repair dept., like DAGS.
We may have lost Hui No Ke Ola Pono (much needed Native Hawaiian Health Care) and QLCC (Queen Liliuokalani’s Children Center), which serve the underserved.
You know we come from a humble community who don’t like to complain and I don’t want to use the words oppressed or suppressed, but if I didn’t see that other communities are going through the same things, I would. Something needs to change. Our community needs your support.
Mahalo,
Mavis

Aloha Maui County Council Members,
My name is Lezley Jacintho Malama Hamakua Maui board president. I'm a lifelong resident of Haiku and have been a part of the beginning.
Mahalo for your past support in funding Malama Hamakua Maui. The funds from Maui County have allowed us to remove more than 40 vehicles from the area, have allowed us to clear, mow, maintain a clear sight of line and fire break, and begin a native plant restoration in 8 of the 308 acres of this Open Space Preserve. In addition to this we have had five school groups visit and connect with the land, installed two water catchment systems, and created over four compost bins.
With our monthly clean up efforts, we are able to connect with over thirty volunteers a month, all invested with the same goal, to return this Maui County Open Space Preserve into the Heart of Haiku again.
Working with multiple agencies within the County, Haiku Community Association, Surfrider Foundation of Maui, Sierra Club Maui, Malama Maui Nui, Hands on Maui, Maui Invasive Species Committee, and Alexandra and Baldwin,Kamehameha Schools, Waikikena Foundation, and Aha Moku Council of Hamakualoa, Volunteer Week Hawaii, and countless local businesses, we have been able to make a real change (your own words- what change have you seen?)
With the funds provided by the County to maintain these County lands, we have also been able to apply for more grants from different entities. This has allowed us to expand our fundraising capabilities, looking to move forward with extended clean up efforts that will reach across the acres of this Open Space Preserve.
Mahalo for you time, continued support, and further championing of our organization. We look forward to future collaborations.

Lezley Jacintho
Malama Hamakua Maui board President

Dear County Council Budget Committee Members,

As you prepare the FY2024 budget, I'd like to please ask you to continue the Food Hub Support item in the HFUU Farm Apprentice Mentoring program.
This item supports Hāna's food hub and farmers market, which is crucial to the sustainability of our rural community. Throughout the past 3 years, we've learned how to collectively support our farmers, ranchers and fishermen. It's been a beautiful evolution, shining light on the long-term viability and growth of our local agricultural economy. We gather weekly and promote health, wellness and local business. The food hub/farmers market also provides resources otherwise unavailable in Hāna. It's so important for our underserved residents to continue supporting these programs.

Mahalo nui loa for your time and consideration.

Aloha always,
Kari Hagedorn
Hāna Community Resident

Aloha Committee Members,

My name is Keolaonākaiʻelua Mather and I am 12 years old. I would like to testify in support of giving Kaʻehu Bay funding because it is a Hawaiian based educational outlet for kids to learn about and appreciate the ʻāina. I joined their Summer mentorship program where I was able to help repair an auwai, taught how to identify, use, and cook canoe plants, and more specifically, how to make delicious gnocchi out of kalo. It is a fun place for keiki to go and socialize and they also provided us with food (like chocolate muffins!). The funding would greatly help these wonderful people and the programs they offer to keiki like me.

Mahalo for reading this testimony!

Aloha,
Keolaonākaiʻelua Mather

Aloha Chair Sugimura and Honorable Committee Members,

My name is Jen Mather and I currently reside in Kahului. I am testifying in support of further monetary assistance and consideration of a long term lease for Mālama Kaʻehu - the non-profit organization that stewards the 64 acres that front Kaʻehu Bay in Paukukalo.
Coming from Lahaina, the North shore of Maui was alien to me when we first moved to Kahului. The staff at Kaʻehu were amazingly welcoming and allowed my family and I to get to know the area through monthly ʻāina clean ups, their fantastic Kaʻehu Youth Mentorship Program which both my son and daughter have taken part in, and they even let an old lady like me join their Summer Archaeology internship field training.

To put this last opportunity into perspective – Kaʻehu funded six (6) kānaka to be trained by ʻĀina Archaeology’s principal investigator, Tanya Lee-Greig, and three of her field technicians for six weeks, giving us more hands-on field experience than some undergraduates in archaeology at universities that I will leave unnamed. This was at no cost to those of us who signed up for this opportunity. We were fed, taught, engaged, and then we were given the further opportunity to utilize our studies with seminars and ethnographic history projects. Our Kaʻehu project was even highlighted at the Bishop Museum during the Society of Hawaiian Archaeology’s annual meeting. I have since gone on to work with ʻĀina Archaeology at their offices and in their lab. I have also been able to use the ethnographic history lessons to copyedit an ethnohistorical report for Keaʻau on Hawaiʻi Island.

Kaʻehu Bay has also helped with building resiliency in our county. Iʻm a volunteer leader for Team Rubicon, a veteran led, international humanitarian organization, and although I donʻt speak on behalf of the organization in this testimony, I can say that Kaʻehu Bay has agreed to let us use their facility to train and build our own capacity to help the county should any disasters occur where Team Rubicon could assist and deploy.

Being able to empower us as capable individuals with new skills that give back to our community, and partner with organizations that help Maui County is priceless. Unfortunately, there is a price that comes with projects and non-profits like Kaʻehu Bay and thatʻs where county assistance comes in. I am asking that the FY 2024 budget please ensure that Kaʻehu Bay has the maximum amount of funding earmarked for them, to ensure they continue to do the great work they have shared with not just the community that surrounds them, but the community that they continue to build throughout Maui County. Furthermore, I would request that Kaʻehu Bay be granted a long term lease on the land they have shown they are more than capable of caring for and stewarding for the future generations of Maui citizens.

Mahalo for your time and consideration and the countless hours of work you put into the annual budget.

E Mālama,
Jen Mather

Aloha! I am writing in support for Malama Hamakua Maui to secure ongoing funding for its efforts in rehabilitating and caring for the land adjacent to the Peahi (Jaws) access road. This area has been a dumping ground for decades and MHM had made a tremendous impact on restoring this land. I have been volunteering with MHM for a few years now and the progress we have made is remarkable. Every month they have a work day to which many people come to volunteer. I see the same group of dedicated people each month, and in addition I see new faces month to month. I am surprised to find that many of the new faces are tourists who have come to contribute during their vacations! I worked with an elderly couple from Boston of all places, and they worked hard alongside of us. I worked the day after the Aloha Classic windsurfing competition and many of the professional sailors who we watched compete were there to help. It is a very rewarding effort for the volunteers, to see the progress we have made each day and over time. However there is a lot left to do. Please consider generous funding for this valiant effort to restore this land of natural and cultural significance to it's natural state.

Steve Elliott
Ha'iku