Queen pageant is about community service
Editor's note: This is the third installment in an occasional series highlighting a year in the life of the Cherry Blossom Festival court, written by 2001 Cherry Blossom Queen Catherine Toth, who also happens to be an Advertiser features writer.
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
People seem to have the idea that being a member of the Cherry Blossom Festival Court means you "get" something.
Photo courtesy of Catherine Toth
It's really more about giving.
From left: Jeanette Knutson, Jaslyn Hanamura and Lezlie Yamauchi helped kids make headbands, part of Celebrate Fathers Fun Day at Pearlridge Center last month.
Not to say the six of us walked away empty-handed. We received round-trip inter-island tickets, coveted gift certificates for sushi and lifetime use of a tiara and sash.
But on Festival Night, we walked away with more than these outward trappings and the fulfillment of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The biggest award we received was the opportunity to give back. The festival has made volunteerism a priority in our lives. It has forced us to somehow fit community service into our already hectic schedules.
"It has encouraged us to participate in community service, and that's what we wanted to do in the first place," said Jaslyn Hanamura, our 19-year-old first princess and a journalism student at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. "I think I needed something like this to get me involved."
One of our responsibilities is to design and implement a community service program for our reigning year. Past courts have read Japanese stories to children or visited the elderly in care homes. One court organized a successful blood drive, complete with catered food and entertainment.
Deciding on one project seemed nearly impossible to our court. Everyone wanted to do everything, and none of us have that kind of time. So after several meetings and frappuccinos, we finally decided on the theme, "Bridging the Generations."
Being that we're all Gen-Xers, caught between growing up and getting old, we felt that we, in many ways, represent that bridge. From now until March, when the 50th court is crowned, we plan to work with the elderly and disadvantaged or challenged kids, promoting positive attitudes and healthy lifestyles.
We have already visited the residents of Hale Pulama Mau, designed visors with the patients at Shriners Hospital for Children, helped kids make hachi maki (headbands) at Pearlridge Center and the Taste of Honolulu, worked with the Japanese Culture Club at the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center and shared with families the story of Tanabata at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i.
Those activities already have affected us.
"In that short one hour at Shriners, we got to know the kids, and that made me realize how fortunate we are," Hanamura said. "I admire the people who work there everyday, their dedication. I would like to be a volunteer like that."
To watch the kids at Shriners beam with pride after successfully spelling their names in puffy paint, or see the smile of a 98-year-old woman still walking and living on her own, are moments unmatched, feelings we'll always remember.
"The most rewarding thing for me is seeing how everyone feels and how they appreciate my efforts," said Luana Ogawa, a 22-year-old princess and Japanese guest services at the Sheraton Waikiki.
Ogawa, like the other court members, isn't a first-time volunteer. Throughout high school she worked on projects with the American Cancer Society, participated in beach clean-ups and hosted exchange students.
With a passion for working with kids, Ogawa is looking forward to that aspect of our community service program: "I want to make a difference."
When I was asked to speak at a volunteer appreciation luncheon at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i last month, I was forced to think about how community service had affected me. Though I had done volunteer work all my life, I never felt I had done anything extraordinary. It never occurred to me that what I was doing was considered community service, that phrase you put on your resume or application for college.
But writing that speech made me realize how giving back has changed my attitude about the world. I'm thankful, as my mom would say, for the little things: a roof to live under, a job that I enjoy, a college education; for two legs, for near-perfect vision, for my health. Not everyone is so lucky.
That luncheon was a perfectly timed reminder: Seeing how appreciative others are of your help, your time, your money, made me realize how important it is for us to remember those basic rules to live by, the ones our parents taught us: Be kind to others, help those in need, appreciate what you have.
The court may have glittering crowns and expensive designer dresses, but all that doesn't matter if we take them for granted.
