LIHU‘E — After two years of meetings, including a major reorganization, the Kekaha Host Community Benefits Citizens Advisory Committee has recommended two projects to Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. for grant funding. The proposed projects are for a sustainable garden at
LIHU‘E — After two years of meetings, including a major reorganization, the Kekaha Host Community Benefits Citizens Advisory Committee has recommended two projects to Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. for grant funding.
The proposed projects are for a sustainable garden at Kekaha Elementary School and a training session for the Kekaha Pop Warner Football Association.
The funding for the projects, $5,000 each, would be part of a fund that amounts to almost $900,000 awarded to the Kekaha community to spend on local improvements.
Kaua‘i County established the fund in 2008 to compensate the Kekaha community for “hosting” Kaua‘i’s landfill in their area. In 2009, Carvalho appointed nine individuals to serve on the committee. There is currently $897,290 available in the fund.
The Kekaha Elementary School Garden Project will develop a community/school sustainable garden to be incorporated into the school’s curriculum and will begin with building a taro lo‘i, states a committee news release.
“We do have a school garden that we are creating that will involve the different types of vegetables and plants that are grown locally,” Kekaha Elementary School Principal Jason Yoshida said. “As kupuna come they can share their knowledge, teach kids in the importance of sustainability.”
Yoshida said the school has about 360 students from pre-school to 5th grade. Students from 3rd to 5th grade may be the first ones to benefit from the roughly 2,100 square-feet garden at the school, but Yoshida said he hopes that the program will grow to one day involve every child in the school.
“We want this to continually grow and incorporate the community into this learning activity,” he said.
The $5,000 will be used to purchase tools such as a tiller, shovels, hoes, wheel barrows and hoses to get the project moving, Yoshida said.
“Our long-term vision is having hydroponics, aquaponics, looking at solar energy to run a zero-waste type learning center for our kids,” he said.
The other $5,000 grant, to the Kekaha Pop Warner Football Association Annual Community Awareness Presentation Project, will provide a training session for youth and their families about challenging issues in Kekaha such as drug and alcohol abuse, bullying and cyber safety.
“I’m so pleased to be able to process these grants and am grateful to the Citizens Advisory Committee for working so hard to get to this point,” Carvalho said in the county news release.
The committee met several times in 2010, but was not able to reach consensus on which programs the community would support. In 2011, the Kaua‘i County Council allocated an additional $95,000 for the committee to conduct a new series of meetings and surveys.
“We look forward to working closely with the (committee) to put these funds to work as quickly as possible for the benefit of the people of Kekaha,” Carvalho said.
The committee received 12 grant applications, and nine of them requested amounts over $5,000, according to the news release. Decisions on these proposals will be made in April.
Project proposals cover one or more of the following areas: community improvements, economic revitalization, environment/sustainability, education/culture/arts, human services and health/wellness.
Visit www.kekahahcb.net for more information.
