Granny and gramps all champs
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Grandparents occupy such an important position in Hawai'i that the question at the second annual Grandparents Celebration at Kapi'olani Park yesterday was not why such an event is held but why ittook so long to get here.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
After all, according to Mae Mendelson, president of AARP Hawai'i, "We have (per capita) the largest number of kids in the United States being cared for by grandparents."
AARP volunteers Bette Larrabee, left, and Lorrie Martens enjoy some chat time during the Grandparents Celebration, held yesterday at Kapi'olani Park. The event is sponsored by AARP Hawai'i and the Chinatown Lions Club.
Hosts of the celebration, part of Older Americans Month, were the AARP and the Chinatown Lions Club. The event featured the Royal Hawaiian Band and other entertainment; lion dancing, crafts, games, free popcorn and shave ice.
"Mostly we're here to celebrate grandparents, who are the greatest single source of volunteer time in the state," said Greg Marchildon, statewide director of AARP Hawai'i. "In Hawai'i, where the extended family is so much a part of the culture, we want to shine a light on grandparents."
The bond between kids and grandparents was highlighted in hundreds of "Why I Love My Grandparents" essays by schoolchildren statewide. Demi Suzuki, 10, of O'ahu, won an all-expense-paid visit to a Neighbor Island for an essay she wrote in January about her grandfather, who has since died.
"My grandpa means so much to me because he is the meaning of family," Suzuki wrote. "He is a special man that does things for his family to make us happy. He is also a man who cares and loves his family as much as I love him."
Taking a shave-ice break, volunteers Bette Larrabee and Lorrie Martens sat on the bleachers in front of the bandstand and discussed families and time — how fleeting it is.
"I've got two grandsons and one great-granddaughter," Martens said.
"I'm not a grandparent because I've never been married," Larrabee said. "I never made the same mistake once.
"Oh, you know what I got in an e-mail yesterday? 'Life is like a roll of toilet paper — the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.' "
