Ka`u News Briefs Monday, Nov. 24, 2014

HAWAI`I COUNTY TAXPAYERS ARE SPENDING about $14.5 million as a result of the June 27 lava flow that continues to be a concern to Puna communities. 

      See westhawaiitoday.com.

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THE THIRTY METER TELESCOPE HAS LAUNCHED The Hawai`i Island New Knowledge Fund to better prepare Hawai`i Island students to master Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and to become the workforce for higher paying science and technology jobs in Hawai`i’s 21st century economy. TMT’s founding gift of $1 million marks the beginning of construction on astronomy’s next-generation telescope on Mauna Kea. 

      TMT’s THINK Fund initiative benefits Hawai`i Island students pursuing STEM endeavors with an annual contribution of $1 million over its existing 19-year Mauna Kea sublease with the University of Hawai`i-Hilo. Two Hawai`i foundations were selected by TMT, Hawai`i Community Foundation and Pauahi Foundation, to administer THINK Fund distribution in scholarship and grant-making platforms. The two independent foundations are defining their award criteria and decision-making process.
      The Thirty Meter Telescope initiated dialogue on formation of THINK Fund in 2008 by asking a group of community volunteers to outline the mission, vision, purpose and implementation strategy of an education fund benefitting Hawai`i Island students. The organizing committee that developed TMT’s THINK Fund structure was comprised of Hawai`i Island residents.
      “After years of THINK Fund planning and reflection, the aspirations of dedicated community members are being realized with TMT’s first annual $1 million contribution, set in motion by the start of our construction phase,” said TMT Community Affairs Manager Sandra Dawson. “As a mother of two teachers, I am so pleased with THINK Fund’s potential to furnish Hawai`i Island students with an easier path to reach for the stars. TMT’s THINK Fund initiative will not only help Hawai`i Island students with the tools to excel in STEM areas and the channels to get into college, it can also provide students with the means to get through college.”
      The organizing committee determined that scholarships, grant making and establishment of an endowment would ensure sustainability of improving educational opportunities for Hawai`i Island students in STEM disciplines. It further recognized that an emphasis be given to improving opportunities for STEM education for Native Hawaiian students, not as an exclusive preference, but focusing on addressing needs of Hawai`i’s host culture.

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NATIVE HAWAIIAN ARTISTS ACTIVE in fields of dance, music, traditional and visual arts are invited to apply for a new fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. 

      “This opportunity will support the creation of new works by Native Hawaiian artists nationwide,” said NACF Program Officer Andre Bouchard. Panels will review online submissions this winter, and in spring 2015, we’ll announce the awardees.”
      Fellowship awards include support ranging up to $20,000 per artist, and artists who apply need to be able to supply documentation of Native Hawaiian ancestry.
      While the nonprofit Native arts foundation has offered national fellowships of this amount each year since 2011 to American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artists and culture-makers, this is the first fellowship created exclusively to support Native Hawaiian artists. A partnership with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and support from the Leonard and Rose Freeman Family Fund of the Hawai`i Community Foundation allowed the foundation to offer this new fellowship.
      “We extend gratitude to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Freeman family for helping us make this new fellowship a reality,” said NACF President and CEO T. Lulani Arquette.
      Interested persons must submit online applications by 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at your.culturegrants.org.

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RICHARD HA, OWNER OF HAMAKUA SPRINGS Country Farms, has an entry on his blog at hahaha.hamakuasprings.com that has a holiday lesson.
      “Let me tell you something really interesting I learned from my Uncle Sonny Kamahele, who had twenty acres in Maku`u, in Puna on the Big Island,” Ha writes. “He had a rare kipuka there with soil that was ten feet deep, no rocks or anything. There was a spring in one corner of his property.
      “Just out of college with an accounting degree and lots of ideas about business, I looked at his land and wondered if he would lease me ten acres to grow bananas. I scratched my chin and thought about how I could grow 35,000 pounds per acre, maybe 300,000 pounds a year taking into account turn around space, on those ten acres.

      “And yet on the other ten acres, Uncle Sonny was making his living with just ten or twenty hills of watermelons, with maybe four plants on each hill. People would come from miles around to buy his watermelons, and that provided him with enough income to support himself and to send money to his wife and son in the Philippines.
      “Here’s the lesson I learned from him: It’s not about how big your farm is. Your business is successful if it supports your situation. I learned a lot from Uncle Sonny, but I think that’s the most important thing I learned from him.
      “That’s what I always look at when I visit a farm. Not how big it is, or how much money it makes, but how it operates, and whether it solves the problem it is trying to solve.
      “Here’s why I’m telling you this right now. We have a real energy problem looming. I think the situation with oil is very serious, and there are definitely going to be winners and losers in the world. We need to position ourselves to be winners, and it’s going to take all of us, big and small.
      “How are we going to feed Hawai‘i?
      “Every one of us is going to play a role in it – from the largest farmers to the small folks growing food in their backyard. Do you remember in the plantation camps, especially the Filipino camps, how the yards were always planted with food? Beans, eggplants, the whole thing. I don’t see it so much anymore, but we can do it again.
      “We are lucky on the Big Island. We’re not crowded, and everybody has room to grow food. You know how you can tell we have plenty space? Everybody’s yard is too big to mow! We have the ability to do this.

        “It’s going to take all of us. It’s not just about any one of us, it’s about all of us, from the biggest to the smallest.
      “I’m lucky to have had Uncle Sonny to learn from when I was younger. I spent a lot of time with him, and I got a real feeling for how he made decisions, which was old style.

      “His lifestyle was a real connection to the past, too. His lawn and the whole area were always immaculate. The grass was always mowed; practically manicured. He lived pretty close to the old ways with a lot of remnants from the past. He had a red and green house that had stones from down the beach to put the pillars on, and lumber over the dirt floors. He built beds on those floors and then had five or six lauhala mats on the beds to sleep on, instead of mattresses; old style. There was a redwood water tank.
      “He listened to the county extension folks, and I learned from that, too – to pay attention to the people who know something.
      “But one of the most important things I learned was that your business, big or small, is a success if it supports your particular situation.”
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THE SECOND ANNUAL ISLANDWIDE CRÈCHE FESTIVAL, featuring more than 100 nativity sets from around the world, takes place from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. both Saturday, Nov. 29 and Sunday, Nov. 30 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Ka`u Ward, 95-5682 Mamalahoa Highway in Na`alehu. Along with the crèche display, the event features live music performed by local musicians and choir and activities for children. Visitors are welcome to the free event. For more information, call ‪‪808-895-0491‬‬.

KA`U FLOATING LANTERN CEREMONY is Saturday at Punalu`u Beach Park from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Registration is available through Ka`u Rural Health Community Association, Inc. at 928-0101.

OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY CENTER invites Ka`u residents to its annual Thanksgiving Dinner Thursday at 1 p.m. “We are still accepting donations and looking for more volunteers to fill in to make this a wonderful holiday for our community,” said OVCA president Fortune Otter.
      To sign up, call 939-7033.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.