Soldiers help make Wai'anae Boys, Girls Club shine
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Twenty-eight soldiers armed with paint, brushes and rollers joined forces with about 12 high school students to spruce up the interior of the Wai'anae Boys and Girls Club yesterday.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"Where I came from, we didn't have a Boys and Girls Club. I got in a lot of trouble," said Pfc. Charles Eichert of Salt Lake City. "Maybe this will help these young people to stay out of trouble, so maybe they won't make the same mistakes I made."
From left, Alicia Luster, Arnold Fautanu and Justin Watson, from the Army's 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, painted the walls of the Wai'anae Boys and Girls Club yesterday as part of a volunteer effort.
The soldiers were men and women from the Army's 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, mostly between the ages of 22 to 32. The students, leaders-in-training for the Boys and Girls Clubs, were between the ages of 13 to 17.
Climbing scaffolds, volunteers painted the 18-foot ceiling, as well as the interior walls of the teen center and two other rooms.
Some of the volunteers worked the back garden area where many of the children play. They cleared the area of weeds, preparing it for a Hawaiian garden.
"We took out about four to five centipedes in the weeding," said Capt. Sonny Lee, battery commander at Schofield.
According to Lee, the event was a joint effort organized by the Wai'anae Military Civilian Advisory Council. Lee said the purpose of the council, established in the early '70s, "is to ease relationships between military and community."
The Wai'anae Boys and Girls Club director, Henderson Kiaha, said the students, who worked side by side with the soldiers, are part of the Boys and Girls Club peer leadership program. They assist the staff and do community service, which earns club credits. Those service hours count toward college scholarships financed through the club's Ameri-Corp program.
Club president Leesah-Mari Tulafale, 16, from Nanakuli High School, said, "We wanted to better our community. There's lots of violence and accidents around, and I just want to train myself and others to be better leaders."
