Church leaders plan to raise $750,000 to buy a home in the Kalihi area for the center. They are hosting a public meeting at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the church to discuss the project and hear community reactions to their plan.

The Hawai'i Cedar Church, at 1545 Kamehameha IV Road, is affiliated with the Assembly of God and has 200 members, most of whom are of Korean ancestry. Church pastor the Rev. Duk Whan Kim, has asked the Kalihi Valley Collaborative to organize the meeting because he and many of the church members are not fluent in English.

Kahele Porter, a prevention specialist with the Coalition For A Drug-Free Hawai'i, said the Kalihi Valley group is made up of service provider agencies, community leaders, residents, schools, police, community groups and other churches.

"There are a lot of obstacles in communicating what they are doing," Porter said. "They don't speak English very well. What they are trying to do is pretty big and they realize they need a lot of support from the community."

Sgt. John Kauwenaole, with the Honolulu Police Department's Kalihi Weed & Seed crime fighting unit, said he supports this type of grass-roots effort to fight drug addiction.

"Any effort that is going to help us get people back on the right track is outstanding," Kauwenaole said. "Especially when they are putting in their own funds."

Kauwenaole said there could be people don't want a drug treatment center in a residential area, but that is often where they are most effective.

"I would like to think they will be accepted," he said. "There will always be some people who resent it, but I'd rather have a drug recovery house then a drug house in my neighborhood.

Lynne Akana, program manager for Palama Settlement's social service outreach program said drugs affect all ethnic groups and rehabilitation programs are very hard to get into.

"It is such a widespread problem and there is a long wait list for any kind of rehab you want to go into," Akana said.

Porter said the program would be open to anyone in the community who needs it. "The Korean community has been affected by the ice epidemic as well and there are no services really out there for Korean-speaking people with addictions," Porter said. "The House of Love rehabilitation center is going to focus on Korean-speaking individuals and will also be open to the community at large."