KAPA‘A — Santa Claus and his reindeer are getting some help from Eagles in spreading holiday cheer. Leland Lam Yuen and a group of his friends, parents and volunteers on Wednesday descended on Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital with four picnic
KAPA‘A — Santa Claus and his reindeer are getting some help from Eagles in spreading holiday cheer.
Leland Lam Yuen and a group of his friends, parents and volunteers on Wednesday descended on Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital with four picnic tables for patients’ use.
The tables are Lam Yuen’s Boy Scouts of America, Aloha Council Eagle Project, the highest rank a Boy Scout can attain prior to his 18th birthday.
“The picnic tables go well with the new courtyard built with the help of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay,” said Josie Pablo, the hospital’s recreation director. “Leland wanted to do the picnic tables so residents and their families can enjoy picnics beyond the two pavilions in the courtyard.”
Pablo said Lam Yuen worked hard on the project, getting materials contributed by community businesses, and after amassing the supplies, working with his fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 133 and friends to put together the project.
“We had to send out solicitation letters, get all the materials, and after doing all the measuring and cutting, assemble the tables and paint them,” Lam Yuen said, his mother Sharyl adding the project required five weeks to complete after the boys worked on it for a day each week.
Lam Yuen said of the four tables, two are wheelchair-accessible with no benches on the side so residents who are wheelchair-bound can simply roll up to the tables to enjoy it.
“My great grandmother Fumiyo Nagaoka was a patient here before she passed away, and I just wanted to give back something to the people who helped take care of her,” Lam Yuen said.
But the picnic tables being delivered are not the end of the story as Tyrus Moises, another Boy Scout with Troop 133, said his Eagle Project involves making picnic tables sized for the children at the Kapa‘a Elementary School.
Moises, currently a senior at Kapa‘a High School and planning on playing college football in Oregon, is no stranger to community service after doing a graffiti cleanup with his physical education teacher Gordan Muramaru at Kapa‘a Middle School.
“Mr. Muramaru said he wants us to go out and do one more of these cleanups before we leave for college,” Moises said.
Earlier in the school year, Michael Tabata, a Boy Scout with Troop and Explorer Post 148, completed his Eagle Project by constructing and installing backpack hooks for all of the kindergarten and first grade classrooms at the King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School, said Fig Mitchell, the school’s vice principal.
“Michael, a recent graduate of Kaua‘i High School, was eager to do a good turn for his former elementary school,” Mitchell, a leader with the Aloha Council, said in an e-mail. “He dedicated his project to the memory of Mr. Godfrey Kaipo Kealalio Sr., a former Aloha Council leader. It was a nice way to welcome the school year and the children use it every day.”
Sharyl said among the other Eagle Project contributions, Scout Anthony Lopez recently painted his school.
Lam Yuen said he plans on attending the Kaua‘i Community College in the fall and possibly enrolling in the culinary arts program.
“These are such great Christmas presents,” Pablo said. “The residents will be happy to be able to spend time with their families and know the tables were made by the young people in our community.”
She said giving back and caring for the community knows no age limit, and is currently working with The Salvation Army because her residents want to volunteer to ring the bells at the Red Kettles.
