Student carpenters come to aid of health center
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The Waikiki Health Center has found a temporary solution to its housing problem, and thanks to Honolulu Community College carpentry students, the center's new home will soon be spruced up and functional.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
More than a dozen HCC students are ripping out termite-eaten boards, refitting old doors and windows and repairing holes in the roof and walls of an art deco-style building on the corner of Kuhio Avenue and Kaiolu Street in Waikiki.
HCC carpentry instructor Jeff Uyeda, left, watches as students William Parker, center, and Elliot Lau work on the Waikiki Health Center's temporary home on Kaiolu Street. Uyeda calls the volunteer work an invaluable learning tool.
"Without them we would really be stuck," said Lin Becker, the center's interim executive director. "It's in pretty bad shape. They are making major cosmetic improvements so it is a livable space."
The Waikiki Health Center is a medical and social services agency that serves more than 5,000 clients a year. The center, operating out of two locations, offers a half-dozen programs to the homeless, elderly, youth and HIV/AIDS-infected residents of Waikiki.
Its administrative and clinical operations are at an 'Ohua Street facility, and other programs are at its Launiu Street location. Landowner Magoon Estate recently sold the Launiu Street property and told the center it has to be out when the lease ends in mid-April.
At the same time, the estate offered up the Kaiolu Street property as a temporary home for the displaced programs. If the estate also sells this building, the center will be given four months notice and must move again.
The problem is that the two-story apartment building, once occupied by Eaton "Bob" Magoon, needs a lot of work.
Honolulu Community College carpentry instructor Jeff Uyeda said he likes to include volunteer work for his students, calling it an invaluable learning tool.
"The complaint was that after graduation, when students go into the world, I can't justify their work experience," Uyeda said. "They have plenty of class work, but for the actual hands-on, I try and get more community service involved where they go out and help others."
HCC carpentry students have taken on several volunteer projects recently, such as helping rebuild the Honolulu Zoo's petting-zoo area after it was damaged by fire.
Student William Parker, who worked on the zoo project, said it was helpful to have the opportunity to apply classroom lessons to real problems.
"This semester we are doing framing and hanging doors and windows and that all applies to what we are doing here," Parker said. "It's the same like class but we just can't waste any materials. At school we have a lot of wood and if you cut wrong, we can get another piece off the rack. If we cut wrong here we got to go back to the shop. Accuracy is kind of critical."
Becker said the center is still looking for a permanent home in Waikiki or nearby areas, but is thankful for the reprieve.
"It certainly gives us some breathing space," she said. "We are still looking as we did before for something with a one- or two-year lease."
The nonprofit organization has been offering low-cost programs to the community for more than 30 years. If property managers or owners would like to respond to the health center's need for building space, they can call Becker at 791-9302.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
