• Once a month on the Lifestyle page a volunteer will be featured. Non-profit organizations are asked to send in a three to five paragraph description of their volunteer along with a high resolution photo of 200 dpi and six
• Once a month on the Lifestyle page a volunteer will be featured. Non-profit organizations are asked to send in a three to five paragraph description of their volunteer along with a high resolution photo of 200 dpi and six inches across to pwoolway@kauaipubco.com.
On February 23 the Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge honored volunteer Marilou Knight of Princeville with their Volunteer of the Year award. The staff organized a volunteer banquet around a theme. This year since the festivities were the night before the Oscars, they used a Hollywood theme. Knight was presented with a poster of “Albatrosses in the Mist,” a take off of the movie “Gorillas in the Mist.”
Knight moved to Kaua‘i from Georgia three years ago and joined the volunteer team at the lighthouse at the encouragement of a neighbor.
“The first time we came over here we became fascinated by the albatross,” she said. “When my neighbor shared a photo of a short tail albatross I thought, ‘wow, I can get that close to the birds?’”
Before long she was hand feeding a wounded albatross named Makana who was never able to fully extend her left wing.
“Our biologist Brenda Zaun found a home for Makana at the Monterey Bay Aquarium,” she said. “Hawaiian Air provided two seats and Makana got to fly coach with us to her new home.”
Volunteer of the Year is given to one person who goes above and beyond their expected weekly assignment. That same evening Knight also received recognition for 500 hours of service. She has been with Kilauea Lighthouse for over two years monitoring the Newell’s shearwater, keeping notes on eggs, participating in the egg-swap and banding the birds.
• Pam Woolway, lifestyle writer, can be reached at 245-3681, ext. 257 or pwoolway@kauaipubco.com
