Lanakila flood damage extensive
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
A nonprofit organization that for decades has provided job training, adult daycare and food delivery for people with special needs now needs help itself after flooding on O'ahu last week destroyed vehicles and landscaping equipment worth thousands of dollars.
Jimmy Wakafuji, director of asset management at the Lanakila Rehabilitation Center, said the program lost two pickup trucks and three vans after heavy rains at its Aliamanu Military Reservation site near Mapunapuna, where dozens of businesses flooded.
Wakafuji said a blocked drainage ditch overflowed, sending water into most of Aliamanu crater Dec. 7.
The company also lost a couple of mowers — one valued at $20,000 — a wood chipper, a tractor and various small equipment including chain saws and weed trimmers when as much as 4 feet of water flooded its storage site.
"Without these vehicles and equipment, we are stranded," Wakafuji said. Crews cannot do their jobs until the tools are replaced, he said, and the program seeks donations of new or used vehicles and yard-service equipment.
Lanakila, through its Workforce Development Program, provides grounds maintenance for several sites, including Wheeler Army Airfield, Tripler Army Medical Center, Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air Force Base and Aliamanu, and each site has its own equipment for training and daily work.
Wakafuji said the job training program will continue, but everyone is struggling to get their work done.
"We've been pulling equipment from our other job sites, so it is creating hardships on all of our projects because they are having to do everything manually because we don't have the equipment we need," he said
Lanakila Rehabilitation Center, founded in 1939, provides programs and services to people with disabilities and through its Meals on Wheels program delivers hot meals to about 1,750 elderly people at home and at group-dining centers daily.
The Workforce Development Program offers educational and training opportunities to adults with cognitive, physical, social, or age-related challenges to build practical work experience so they can find jobs.
To donate, call Marlena Willette at 356-8572.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
