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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, December 29, 2003

Children's center finds new resolve after tough year

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

A year that began with budget cuts and layoffs for the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center will end in optimism, with a leaner, thriving organization that served nearly as many youngsters this year as the previous year.

As many as 2,000 orphans and needy children were expected to be lost from the center's safety net when the cutbacks were announced last December by the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust, which finances the center.

But thanks to the work of staff members, a tightened focus and partnerships with organizations such as Kamehameha Schools, the center managed to serve 10,072 children this year, just shy of the 10,668 who benefited in 2002, said Claire Asam, executive director of the center.

Among them were the five children of Daysia Pomaikai Chee Lee, who died in a single-car accident Oct. 30 in Hau'ula. Ranging then from 3 weeks to 7 years old, the children joined their grandfather's family, which still has three young ones at home.

Lili'uokalani Center was a huge blessing, said Daysia Lee's father, Sadrian Chee, whose two older children, including Lee, were also beneficiaries of the programs operated by the center when their mother was killed in an automobile accident years before.

"They have been instrumental in getting us (four) car seats, a crib and kids' clothing for the funeral," Chee said. "They really stepped up to the plate when this happened."

Asam said the Lili'uokalani Trust also has improved financially in the past year thanks to the management of trust administrator Robert Ozaki and improving economic conditions.

It's a far cry from last December.

Following the stock market decline and a weak Hawai'i economy, the trust announced a year ago that it would cut more than 40 people from the payroll — nearly one-fourth of its staff — and reduce expenditures by 25 percent to make up a budget shortfall of $3.6 million.

"As we look back over 2003, it was a very challenging year," Asam said. "We started off on a difficult footing with us having to do the budget cuts and reductions, especially in staffing. That was very hard."

The center closed a number of small satellite facilities and spent the past year evaluating its programs and some 159 projects, including grief counseling, education, cultural awareness and leadership, Asam said, adding that some will be eliminated.

The transition was bumpy, Asam said, but the staff's dedication and help from other organizations eased the way and prepared the center for a renewed focus on its primary mission —Êstrengthening families and nurturing 'ohana.

Partnerships were created to relieve the center of some of the responsibilities it had taken on over the years.

A $298,000 grant from Kamehameha Schools allowed the organization to continue 28 tutoring programs that were slated for the chopping block, she said. The programs included efforts on the Big Island and a night drop-in center where students received homework help.

Kamehameha also helped the center evaluate the effectiveness of its programs and may eventually partner with the center in programs that fit the school's mission of building community capacity and capabilities, said Kekoa Paulsen, Kamehameha Schools spokesman.

Kamehameha has specific criteria for programs and is looking to serve remote communities with high education needs and a concentration of Native Hawaiians, Paulsen said.

"Kamehameha Schools is very interested in extending its reach to more Hawaiian children," he said. "We do believe it's important for agencies to work together to improve the capabilities and well-being of our people."

Other agencies such as Alu Like and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs also stepped forward when they learned that the center intended to cut staff on Lana'i and have a Maui social worker commute there, Asam said.

The two organizations, which also serve Hawaiians, and Kamehameha Schools pooled their resources and financed a position on Lana'i, she said.

The coming year will see the full impact of the center's renewed focus on family.

"With that refocusing effort we decided that our unique contribution to Hawaiian children and their families is to help strengthen families so they in turn are able to raise healthy, resilient children," Asam said.

Under the new focus, parents will be invited to participate with the children in such things as youth leadership and training sessions, Asam said.

"We're still working with the kids, but we also realize that the family component is important to strengthen and tie in with our work with the kids," Asam said. "So we're trying to do that more explicitly than incidentally."

Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands, died in 1917, leaving a will that created a trust to benefit orphans and destitute children. The trust is valued at $360 million, but the losses announced last year forced the organization to regroup and take charge of its vast holdings.

The trust has 6,500 acres of land, 100 commercial and residential leases and a portfolio of securities.

And despite the improvement by year's end, the trust and the center will stay the course, Asam said.

"We'll continue to refine our understanding of nurturing 'ohana and continue to look at projects each unit is doing to make sure they involve families and strengthening families," she said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.