Volunteers provide aloha while giving holiday thanks
By Lynda Arakawa and Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Staff Writers
For hundreds of Island residents yesterday, the holiday was not just about giving thanks, but about giving of themselves.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
From homeless centers to churches and even a Kailua pub, thousands of hot Thanksgiving meals reached the needy and others.
Capt. Dwayne Patterson of the Salvation Army prepares a ceremonial turkey for carving by Mayor Jeremy Harris at the Salvation Army's 31st annual Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday at Blaisdell Center. The annual event drew 800 volunteers.
For the volunteers who cooked, hauled and set up at the Salvation Army's 31st Annual Thanksgiving Dinner, giving their time was warm comfort.
The Blaisdell Center was bustling with activity, with an army of 800 volunteers working since dawn for the noon lunch, a tradition in Honolulu. Companies also helped, donating money, food, paper goods and flowers.
Some volunteers said the event felt a little different this year after the Sept. 11 attacks, and with a war in Afghanistan.
"It seems like people are a lot more involved, a lot more willing to give of their time to help out," said Darryl Jung, 36. "I guess people want to feel good about something."
Jung spent this morning with more than 100 others snipping construction paper into squares that could be fashioned into candy baskets.
Sitting and cutting at a busy table nearby was Audrey Montifalcon, a Makiki resident who came to work, socialize and "give back to the community."
"You know, I have a lot that's happened to me that's really good and some people don't, and this is just a tiny way of doing something for someone else," she said.
The Salvation Army expected to feed about 2,500 guests yesterday, somewhat more than the 2,200 to 2,300 they usually see.
Officials said they expected an increase because of growing unemployment and increased need in the community since the terrorist attacks.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The River of Life Mission downtown was also filled with people who seemed to come for the fellowship as well as the food. The mission distributed about 750 hot Thanksgiving lunches yesterday, including about 120 meals to senior citizens' homes, workers said. University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle greeted guests in the morning and served as "head carver."
Clarence Orion plays for those arriving at the Salvation Army's annual Thanksgiving meal.
The mission prepared 75 turkeys and 40 pounds of mashed potatoes, cutting about 100 loaves of bread for homemade stuffing, said Robert Robinson, the kitchen and clothing manager, who started work yesterday at 2:30 a.m.
"People donate to us for a reason, so we can give (the needy) the best," he said.
About 120 people volunteered to help the mission with the Thanksgiving meals, although many more offered to help, said women's programs coordinator Sue Marchant.
"We were turning them away," she said.
Venus Ah Quin, a volunteer at the mission, has been homeless since 1987 and sleeps on the grounds of a Honolulu school. Still, the 54-year-old said she had much to be thankful for as she sat before a paper plate of food.
"I'm thankful for the people I have come across," she said. "They've been a blessing to me."
Oma Namauu, who has been homeless off and on for about a year, was also thankful. If it were not for the mission, the 57-year-old woman said, "we would still be on the street looking for food."
Yesterday was the first time Waikele resident Petula Shimabukuro volunteered at the mission, although she makes it a point to volunteer somewhere every year.
"It's just to help others," she said. "We see just how a little bit of help can have such an impact."
At the Institute for Human Services in Kalihi, Hilton Hawaiian Village employees and families served a Thanksgiving meal to hundreds of homeless people. At the Waimanalo Health Center, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono joined the ranks of volunteers serving dinners.
In Kailua, Pinky's Pupu Bar & Grill also fed about 50 bachelor Marines free Thanksgiving meals.
"They were eating Thanksgiving dinner and watching football, so I think they felt the comforts of home," said assistant manager Ron Caffrey. "Whenever the Marines come in over here there's a lot of that sort of sentiment that they might get called to go overseas and handle the fight for freedom, so we make sure that they get VIP treatment. ... It's worth it just for that. Just to make them feel appreciated."
