Waialua church had faith in its success

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

When the 150 members of Waialua United Church of Christ decided more than a decade ago to build a preschool and social hall, they planned to raise money the old-fashioned way: Pledges from members. Fund-raisers and lu'au. Chicken, jellies and halohalo sales. More pledges from members.

The Rev. David Milotta, pastor at Waialua United Church of Christ, says his congregation's efforts in building a preschool (background left) and social hall (with tower) can be duplicated easily by other small churches or nonprofits. The $2.8 million complex "shows what you can do with faith." Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"After more than 35 or 40 events, we had only about $150,000," said the Rev. David Milotta. "That wasn't going to make it. There are only so many times you can squeeze the sponge dry."

That's when the congregation, with deep roots in plantation society, entered a whole new world, one filled with grants, trusts, audits, leverage and foundations.

Today, the $2.8 million complex is winning awards and new friends while paying for itself. The preschool, used by a local Head Start program, helps neighborhood children get ready for public school. An adult daycare facility takes in elderly residents who have nowhere else to go. The meeting hall serves as party central for North Shore residents.

And the little church that could is talking about how it can help other small congregations reach out with big projects of their own.

"What we did is repeatable by every small church or nonprofit group," Milotta said. "It shows what you can do with faith."

The Waialua United Church of Christ, formed by a merger of Japanese and Filipino congregations in the 1950s, has century-old roots in Waialua, Milotta said.

For years, members met in an old chapel, which had been condemned at Wheeler Army Air Field after World War II, cut into five pieces, moved, and reconstructed in Waialua.

It was after the congregation built a new $900,000 sanctuary in 1990 that it decided to move onto the next phase. Or, as Milotta puts it, "make the jump from the plantation camp to the promised land."

Members wanted a school and social hall that were more ambitious than their own Sunday needs, envisioning a place that would serve the rest of the community in what Milotta calls grant-driven ministry.

"Of course, there's a tendency to look after your own, but it's all about bridge building," he said.

Kathy Lee, a church member and Waialua resident for 35 years, said members were motivated by a need to better prepare young children for public school.

"It was a community need we thought we could fill," Lee said.

Milotta stands inside the church's new social hall, which serves the entire North Shore community. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I started with two-day workshops, then went to a one-week grant-writing program," he said.

The church hired an auditor, slogged through the zoning process, learn to run itself like a business and to leverage other organizations for more money.

Milotta, who likes to spend his afternoons board sailing on the North Shore, soon found himself comfortably eating lunch at the Pacific Club in Honolulu, asking one foundation after another to contribute $25,000 or $50,000 to the cause.

He also turned to a professional fund-raiser, Chuck McLemore, who helped provide the final pieces of the money puzzle, including an $855,000 grant from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and other grants from the Samuel and Mary Castle, Atherton Family and Cooke foundations.

"When you first start asking, all you get is no for an answer," Milotta said. "Eventually, I learned how to redeem Caesar's money to build God's kingdom."

McLemore, president of Creative Fund Raising Associates, said the church did everything right in winning over the groups that provided money.

"By far, I've never seen a group do a better job of getting people involved and staying involved," he said. "They went out in the community to identify a need and did all their grassroots work and research, which is something the funders really want to see. It's mind-boggling what this group did on its own. All I did was help them get to the next level."

The original plans called for a two-story building that looked more like an office complex than a school. Architect Nick Huddleston helped change the design to a low-rise complex of five buildings, preserving the mountain views and incorporating dozens of cost-saving, energy-efficient elements without sacrificing quality touches.

It took more than 12 years to raise the money and build the complex, but that never deterred members, Lee said.

"It's really amazing, but we knew that if everybody stayed together, we could pull this off," she said.

The school and social hall are heavily used not just by church members but others throughout the North Shore.

"There was always a need in the community for a place to celebrate weddings, anniversaries and birthdays," Lee said. "Before, there was nothing to accommodate them. You had to go all the way into a hotel in Honolulu. Now, there's a place right here."

Milotta thinks the church can be an example for others wanting to try community outreach.

"There are a lot of government and private funds to be tapped into. Money is just a tool of faith, and it's all about faith-building," he said.

Architect took 'green' approach

The new Waialua United Church of Christ preschool and social hall complex is earning high praise for its design and construction.

The Honolulu chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave the low-slung, five-building complex an award last month for its sustainable design that emphasizes reuse and recycling in favor of consumption and disposability.

Architect Nick Huddleston incorporated "green" building features at nearly every turn.

It's especially designed for comfort without air conditioning. To do that, Huddleston added light-green tinted windows, ventilating skylights, high gable wall vents, a radiant barrier and astro-foil roof insulation, more than 20 ceiling fans, generous open windows, shaded walls and a covered walkway and Lanai. There's a vent in the bell tower that tops the social hall.

"My sense of sustainable design is that it is environmentally responsible, conserves energy, and provides good value for the resources invested," Huddleston said.

Church members say they appreciate the features. "We didn't set out to do something different. It just happened naturally," said Bob Kumasaka, a church member for more than 50 years who supervised the building committee's work from thought to finish.

The church saved money by turning to "green" building methods whenever possible. Old crushed concrete was used as fill under the building. Excavated soil was reused to level a baseball field at nearby Waialua High School. Nontoxic anti-termite measures were taken. There's even an on-site septic tank and drain field.

Huddleston also incorporated a number of quality features that he says will help sustain the building. The touches range from stainless steel toilet partitions and top-quality Swiss hardware to a hardwood stage floor and heavy wooden beams in the roof.

"People will take care of the building better when they appreciate the quality," he said.

AIA judges liked the $2.8 million complex's durable, economic and low-key look, which blends well into the local community and environment without blocking a spectacular view of the mountains beyond.