Honorable Mention
Lily Canas honored for her volunteer efforts

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lily Canas, 85, practices tai chi with Olaloa residents and friends. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Lily Canas Age: 85. Born: Seattle. Moved to Hawai'i in 1990. One of the first residents of Olaloa Retirement Community. Family: Husband, Rick; son, Tomo Takano; daughter, Akiko Harada. Quote: "You better not be bored. It doesn't cost anything to participate, and everybody's got a talent to contribute."

"Everybody knows me," she said. "They call all day and night whenever there's a problem. One lady used to call me to take her blood pressure in the middle of the night. It took two years before she found out I wasn't on the staff."

Canas always answers the call. At 85, she still logs more than 50 hours a week as a volunteer.

Among her activities, she is a member of the Mililani Mauka Neighborhood Board, the Mililani Vision group, the O'ahu Trans 2K committee, the Hawai'i Condo and Townhouse Association, and the Central O'ahu Regional Park committee. At Olaloa, she organizes events, takes neighbors to the store or bank, staffs the thrift shop, helps with parties and serves as an advocate for senior needs throughout the area.

Last month she was named the female senior volunteer of the year during the annual Mayor's Senior Recognition program.

"I guess I'm always moving," she admitted one afternoon in a rare seated moment in Olaloa's recreation room, where she visited with a dozen or so friends and fellow volunteers. "I want to be an example. When they see an 85-year-old jumping around, they say, 'I can do that, too.' "

Canas likes to keep things jumping around Olaloa, with a morning exercise class, monthly birthday parties, orientations for new residents, outings, gardening, bingo, tai chi, just about anything that keeps residents feeling young and active.

"You better not be bored," she said. "It doesn't cost anything to participate, and everybody's got a talent to contribute."

Canas said she couldn't do it all without lots of help, but others, like handyman and electrician Shigerou Tanoue, say she provides the spark for many of the activities and changes.

"Lily started the white elephant sales that eventually led to the thrift store," he said. With profits from the store, Canas bought a large-screen television that is used throughout the day by the whole community.

When she was summoned to jury duty last year, she got up at 5 a.m. every day for two weeks to ride the bus to town and do her civic duty. Then she donated the $200 she received from the government to the Olaloa community.

A Navy nurse during World War II and a civil service employee for most of her working years, Canas moved to Hawai'i 11 years ago and quickly got active in the senior community.

She worked for several years to get a city bus to stop just outside the retirement center. When the bus finally began to stop there, she started pushing for a bus shelter, too. During the past mayoral election, she held a coffee hour for the candidates and her first question was "Where is the bus shelter?" It was built a short time later. And as a member of the Mililani Visioning Team she pushed for nearly two years to get ambulance service for Mililani.

"I like to work for other people," she said.

Her work inspires others, too.

"When something needs to be done, it is done," said one of the people who nominated her for the mayor's award. "I am modeling my life around her because she is full of life. She stays young because there is so much to do."

In all, the Mayor's Senior Recognition Program this year honored 74 individuals 60 and over who volunteered their time, experience and skill for the community. More than 1,500 people attended the program at the Hawai'i Convention Center.