Winners' Camp finds home on hill

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

HAWAI'I KAI — Just beyond the end of the road where the tony homes end is a place for teenagers to go to learn who they are.

As her exuberant expression suggests, Delorese Gregoire sees the new home for her Winner's Camp atop Kamehame Ridge in the Ko'olau Mountains as a way of further serving the program's goal of helping teenagers gain self-confidence. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

More than 8,000 youngsters ages 13-17 have gone through it. Many are referred to the camp by school counselors, teachers and friends who have been in the program.

Now home will be atop Kamehame Ridge — the ridge development off Hawai'i Kai Drive on the way to Kalama Valley — in what used to be the old Army Nike Missile Camp. Winners' Camp took over the site in December under a 40-year lease agreement with landowner Kamehameha Schools.

"Now we have our own site," said Delorese Gregoire, founding director of Winners' Camp, which is a Hawai'i-based nonprofit foundation. "The bricks and mortar of the buildings show a commitment and people will feel the program is valid. We've worked really hard on this."

When Gregoire stepped on the property it was choked with weeds and scrub brush and marred by sagging roofs, broken glass louvers and graffiti. With the help of many community volunteers, including Boy Scout troops, members of the military, Rotary Club members and others, the place has been transformed.

Now the doors and windows work. New carpeting — a donation — covers the old linoleum floors. Graffiti has been erased by layers of cream-colored paint. The kitchen, which had been covered with dirt, grime and graffiti, is now gleaming chrome.

	Comments sought
•	What: Plans to remodel the camp are before the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for permits necessary to alter the four buildings on the 3.5-acre site.
•	Deadline: The public is invited to comment on the project by Nov. 7.
•	Send comments to: Winners' Camp Foundation, P.O. Box 241018, Honolulu, HI 96824

"The buildings were here, but we have to refurbish it. We need new roofs."

That's why Winner's Camp is seeking permits from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources .

In August, the camp ran its first session at the new site. The session was smaller than most — about 60 teenagers — and very rustic, but it ran smoothly, Gregoire said. Many companies supported the camp with donations of drinking water, chairs and other furniture, she said.

The military buildings include dormitory-like rooms, a large kitchen and mess hall and many open rooms for activities.

"It's perfect the way the buildings are laid out and the land amount and the isolated location," Gregoire said.

Hang gliders are the only other people who come up here, and they have a key according to the agreement signed with Kamehameha Schools and Gregoire.

Winners' Camp is Gregoire's brainchild. An orphan and ward of the state when she was young, she vowed to not be a victim. She came to Hawai'i at 18 and has been here ever since. She started Winners' Camp in 1985 out of a desire to give teenagers the tools to take responsibility for their lives and to believe in themselves.

The camp's goal has been to teach teenagers a sense of self-worth during one of the most difficult periods of their lives. Trust is the program's key. Before ever stepping into the campsite, teens sign agreements that they will respect each other and work as a team. Violators are brought in for ho'oponopono — the Hawaiian concept for correction or solving problems — and must apologize to the group for breaking promises.

Now with a permanent place to set up, Gregoire can begin raising money for a new roof, for refurbishing the kitchens and bathrooms and for making the camp handicapped-accessible. Her goal is to obtain accreditation from the American Camping Association. She estimates she'll need about $3 million to do the remodeling and establish an endowment fund.

"We want to be on the leading edge," Gregoire said. "We mix many Hawaiian values in because we live in Hawai'i and I've seen that they work. For young people, ritual works."

If anyone can accomplish it, Gregoire can, said Pam Chambers, owner of Pam Chambers Presentation Courses. Chambers, a former member of the board of directors, still comes to the camp sessions and gives lectures. In August, she spoke to the teenagers about dating etiquette.

The camps generally are run when teens aren't in school, during spring break and summer, for instance. The cost is $880 and includes meals, transportation, follow-up programs and activities. Scholarships are available.

"It's a program designed to let young people know they have more choices than they're aware of," Chambers said. "Every adult that's a part of this is so envious that they didn't get anything like this when they were younger."

Team leaders, who are former camp participants, work with smaller groups who are taught to improve their social, communication and cooperation skills though a variety of physical and cerebral exercises.

Shane Stowell, a former Kaiser High School student, who is now studying to be a veterinarian, went to the camp three times and then became a team leader, Stowell said.

"It helped out with my school and with my attitude toward life," said the Stowell, 19. "The camp gives you learning skills to focus and to have a positive outlook on life."

That's a hard thing to have when you're filled with teen angst, he said.

"At first, it was weird to talk about my feelings and stuff and I wanted to leave," Stowell said. "By the end of the seven days, I wanted to stay another week."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.