KAPA’A — A Wailua park and a Kapa’a preschool were beneficiaries of good deeds and community-service projects done by several community groups Saturday. Working in partnership with leaders of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, over two dozen members of
KAPA’A — A Wailua park and a Kapa’a preschool were beneficiaries of good deeds and community-service projects done by several community groups Saturday.
Working in partnership with leaders of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, over two dozen members of the Zonta Club of Kauai turned out to give a fresh coat of paint to the K.I.D.S. (Kauai Independent Daycare Services, Inc.) School in Kapa’a, much to the delight of the preschool director, Phyllis Kunimura.
Kunimura explained that on an earlier occasion, the preschool leaders and keiki were also helped by a group of representatives from American Savings Bank, who came down to help spruce up the school in time for the new school year.
Jaime Valdez, Jr., operations supervisor for the American Savings Bank located in the Waipouli Town Center Foodland store, said that, earlier this summer, members of his staff and their families met in the afternoon to paint the entry gateway, as well as poles of the chain-link fence.
The American Savings Bank volunteers, including the Valdez family, Jaime, Colleen, Dustin, and Alesis, were Lynn and Wally Kudo, Tracie Victorino, Coutney Clark, Jennifer Galindo, Camri Ragudo, Laverne and Franklin Bisarra. They painted a total of seven wooden gates and 28 telephone poles.
The pipe that runs across the top of the fence was also painted, to make everything blend together, he said.
This effort was enhanced by the appearance of Zonta Club members, who worked on painting the inside walls to cover over children’s handprints, and other grime that accumulates over a year’s span of working with students.
“Thank heaven for Walt (Barnes),” one Zontian remarked. “He had a power roller that made the work go real fast.”
Walt’s wife, Anne, is a member of the Zonta Club, whose members worked in partnership with the Weinberg Foundation to provide a $10,000 grant to the Kauai Food Bank for the Kids’ Cafe program at the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii Waimea clubhouse.
Melinda Uohara is the president of the Zonta Club of Kauai, and will be meeting up with Mark Gregory, president of the board of directors of the Kauai Food Bank, for the formal presentation of a check at a later date.
Over on the banks of the Wailua River, about a dozen members of the Rotary Club of Kapaa had Kaumuali’i Park caretaker Michael Palmeira working hard as they amassed piles of rubbish for disposal during their cleanup of the heavily-used park.
Armed with mowers, brush cutters, chain saws, and an array of hand tools, the Rotarians made short work of the task at hand, one Rotarian noting, “I didn’t know there was an area to the left of the launch ramp that was part of the park.”
With the grassy overgrowth cut back, they suggested that perhaps an installation of another picnic table would encourage people to use that portion of the park. The resulting traffic would keep the vegetative growth in check.
