Site brings charities, volunteers together
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
| • | Volunteer Hawaii
It's clearinghouse for volunteers and organizations who need volunteers. Potential volunteers who don't have computer access can dial 211 and an operator will search for them. |
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Find out more about Youth Service Hawaii, sponsor of National Youth Service Day events, at www.youthservicehawaii.org.
Volunteerhawaii.org, a new Web site launched by United Way Wednesday, now makes it much easier to give your time to a good cause in Hawai'i. It lists 121 volunteer opportunities, from acupuncturists for Life Foundation to helpers for Special Olympics. Potential volunteers can also post their preferences and receive an e-mail alert when a match is found.
"One of the most crucial elements of a community is the involvement of volunteers," said Aloha United Way president Irving Lauber. "Volunteerhawaii.org makes that desire easy to accomplish."
Two volunteers, young and experienced, told us about their good works:
Amanda Maehara
Age: 15, a sophomore at Iolani.
Volunteer organization: HUGS (Help, Understanding, & Group Support), an organization for seriously ill children and their families, serving 117 families.
What she does: Amanda plays with children at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children, offering respite care for parents and visiting hospitalized children with the Laughter Wagon — a bag on wheels stocked with games and toys — in tow. "We play cards or make pictures or stuff like that," Maehara says.
Why she does it: "When I first started going to HUGS, I did it because my mom signed me up and I thought it'd look good on my college application. Now, I like hanging out with the kids. Some of them look so bored. At times, it can be kind of sad, because there are some kids you see who are disfigured or don't lead a normal life. Yet they still act as if everything's OK and they're pretty strong about it. I'm having fun, too, getting in touch with my inner child. The kids don't want people to feel sorry for them, so I try not to.
"These kids — I don't want to sound corny, but they teach you lessons and don't let you get down. I get down at the smallest thing, like not getting a grade on a test. I'm slowly learning that these kids are so much stronger than me and I can learn stuff from them."
Memorable moment: "One little girl, probably 2 or so, had been sitting on her bed all day. Her parents would occasionally take her to playroom, but she was pouting. I went to play Mr. Potato Head with her. It was missing a few pieces, so she put an arm in his head, like that. We created this distorted, Picasso-like Potato Head and she just started laughing at it."
Goldie Dumpson
Occupation: a retired nurse anesthetist.
Age: 86.
Volunteer organizations: American Red Cross and SageWatch.
What she does: Trains people in a variety of health classes, CPR, first aid, courses for children and family care-giving through the Red Cross. With SageWatch, a program through the state Executive Office of Aging, she helps educate people about Medicare fraud.
Why she does it: "Without volunteer life, I think life would be boring. My sister took the word 'work' out of her vocabulary when she retired. I'd have a hard time finding things to do. I don't drive. ... The people at Red Cross and SageWatch go out of their way to make it easier for volunteers. They pick me up, they make sure I eat properly. They stay on my case. It's like a big family. The letters from students I train, from people I come in contact with, you get so much back, so much more than you put in."
And it keeps her young, she said. "People laugh at me, but I really think the mere fact that every morning when I get up, I have a goal, a list of things to do today, it just gets you up facing the day."
Memorable moment: After Hurricane 'Iniki, Dumpson ran a shelter on Kaua'i. One day, a nene found his way to the shelter.
"The poor thing was so disheveled, I patted him and put his feathers back in place," Dumpson recalled. "That goose adopted me as his mother. If I got out of his sight the entire time, he'd start screaming at the top of his lungs. Whoever was around would pick him up and throw him at me."
She named him Henry, and one day, her kindness to Henry was repaid in spades.
Henry would sleep on a chair next to her, while she slept on a couple of chairs, his head resting on her. One morning, two people came in during the night with ski masks on. Dumpson suspects they were after the shelter's generator.
She asked the masked duo what they wanted and they just kept approaching her. Once they were almost upon her, Henry reached out and nipped the first man.
"Henry was on a chair, and hit the man about midpoint," she said. "You can imagine what that was like. The guy took off and Henry went honking and chased him off the campus. The other man followed."
Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8035.
