WAILUA — You never know when an act of kindness can make a difference between life and death. Cindy Duterte, the recreation division head for the county Parks and Recreation Department, was grateful firefighters from Kapa‘a Fire Station were on
WAILUA — You never know when an act of kindness can make a difference between life and death.
Cindy Duterte, the recreation division head for the county Parks and Recreation Department, was grateful firefighters from Kapa‘a Fire Station were on hand Friday morning at the annual Seniors Fun Day at Lydgate Park.
One of the approximately 200 kupuna succumbed to the rapidly rising heat and firefighters were immediately on the scene, summoning American Medical Response paramedics to further treat the kupuna.
“We’re lucky the captain from the Kapa‘a Fire Station allowed his men to come and volunteer for this,” Duterte said. “We had someone with overheating and they were right there.”
The Parks and Recreation Department and Na Kupuna Council teamed up to present the annual Senior Fun Day, where approximately 200 kupuna from senior centers around the island converged at Lydgate Beach Park for a day of fun and fellowship.
“The senior centers are closed today because of this special event,” Duterte said. “Our neighborhood center personnel are all here volunteering for this annual event which takes place each year between August and September.”
Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., along with Parks and Recreation director Lenny Rapozo, stopped there early, welcoming volunteers and seniors at the event, which Duterte said has been taking place for at least the past 10 years.
Kupuna spent time in the sun, competing in friendly matches of horseshoe, tic tac toe using oversized bean bags being tossed into hopefully appropriate squares in a variation of the paper tic tac toe, lawn bowling and Portuguese horseshoe where oversized washers were tossed across a length of field into hopefully, a hole in a carpeted wooden box.
“Are those policemen?” a kupuna coming off a victorious round asked. “They look like policemen.”
His vanquished opponent said he was pretty close because they look like policemen, but are actually firemen.
When the heat became too much to bear, the kupuna retreated to the shade of the park’s main pavilion where other county leaders led a game of sudoku, the popular Japanese number game, followed by bingo, a popular game with the kupuna.
“We’ll have lunch after the bingo and following that, the kupuna leave for home,” Duterte said. “They love it.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
