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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, November 25, 2001

After Deadline
Paying attention to our readers a year-round job

By John Simonds
Advertiser Reader Representative

It's the season of heightened caring in a year when human concerns have run stronger than usual. But for The Advertiser and charitable agencies it works with, attention to people is a year-round effort.

The Advertiser launches its annual Christmas Fund drive today and will be encouraging donations to the Community Clearinghouse/Helping Hands Hawai'i to meet emergency needs of families and individuals. The appeal is focused on the holidays, but the work of nonprofit agencies goes forward during other months when it may get a lot less fanfare although the calls for help continue.

The Advertiser Christmas Fund, in the newsroom, is in the able hands of two seasoned Hawai'i journalists, senior editor Anne Harpham coordinating it, and Rod Ohira writing daily stories about people seeking help. Ohira has been interviewing Islanders with specific needs. Donations will help them and many others this year and next.

Human interest is a full-time priority at The Advertiser, consistent with a mission statement that calls for providing a voice for all the community and to perpetuate the qualities of aloha, including tolerance, humility, sharing and respect.

Other stories have shared the good and bad news of Hawai'i's economy and living conditions in terms of people and organizations affected.

On Nov. 18, an Advertiser story reported efforts of the state government and new homeowners to upgrade the quality of life among residents of Palolo Valley Housing, a public housing project where at least 60 of the 400-plus dwelling units were found to be substandard — "uninhabitable," the story said — because lack of state money had let conditions slide. The article noted hopes of residents and state officials alike that new private management would upgrade the quality of life of residents. It also pursued interactive aims of effective community journalism with a sidebar listing phone numbers people could call to offer comment.

Another Nov. 18 article about the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks on people's everyday activities and relationships enabled Hawai'i residents, some with distant families, to share feelings about the tragedies.

An Oct. 8 report on how charitable groups are coping in lean times reflected the hope and generosity of a Hawai'i that contributed to the East Coast recovery effort and will be host for visiting New York City fire and police families. Hawai'i has donated at home too, as local nonprofits, including public radio and television organizations, were able to meet their annual fund-raising targets.

A report on Wednesday looked further into the anxious world of nonprofit organizations faced with year-end fund-raising scenarios. A dramatic 11th-hour $1 million gift enabled Aloha United Way to achieve its $13.6 million goal. Hard times are here, but bright moments occur, cracking the clouds with timely success.

Hale'iwa's difficult economy threatens the livelihood of its retail business community, as The Advertiser reflected in a Nov. 15 story on conditions along O'ahu's North Shore. An owner closing down her store after 11 years was featured. One letter writer was moved by the story to promise to do all his holiday shopping in Hale'iwa. Another letter objected to the article, saying it gave the area more unwelcome news.

Good news about October's state excise tax collections didn't get the public applause expected by a small-business entrepreneur. The reader, who employs six people, asked why more wasn't made of Hawai'i's increase in October excise tax revenues over those of a year before. The caller said she had given each of her workers $100 to spend and was pleased to be part of the success. She said she thought it was cause for celebrating a much-needed economic gain. State tax experts were more cautious, noting in a Nov. 10 story that a calendar break allowed late-September revenues to increase the October total to 6.5 percent more than was collected in October 2000.

State standards for rejoicing can be tough.

Sometimes a newspaper runs into crossfire in its attempts to help, as happened twice lately to The Advertiser. A woman said in a Nov. 13 story that she had been laid off recently from her job, but a manager called, saying she had quit two years earlier. The woman has not returned Advertiser phone calls trying to resolve the contradiction. And a Sept. 25 story about efforts of relatives to help a child and her father, both being treated for illnesses, prompted other relatives to raise intra-family issues and question the validity of the cause.

The Advertiser continues to cover people — families, small businesses, nonprofits, social service workers — their daily needs and interests. People have shown they want to read about other people. Happily for Hawai'i, they also share a tradition of helping them.

Reach John Simonds at 525-8033 or at jsimonds@honoluluadvertiser.com.