Posted on: Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Volunteer efforts bring tears to kupuna's eyes
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
When most companies send their employees to a retreat they usually spend their days at the spa, the beach and on tours.
Photos by Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser Kentucky-based Texas Roadhouse, in partnership with Coca-Cola, provided about $1 million worth of labor and materials to projects at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, the Kahumana Residential Treatment Facility & Psychosocial Program and the Ohana Ola O Kahumana Transitional Housing Facility. The volunteer effort, which involved about 1,000 people, was part of Texas Roadhouse's annual conference this week.
"This is something different — these are hard-working tourists," said Wai'anae kupuna Agnes "Auntie Aggie" Kalanihookaha Cope, who came to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center to observe the work and the Hawaiian cultural activities provided by community members to the volunteers on site.
"They're doing a wonderful job," she said, wiping away tears. "I'm very grateful to these people."
This is the second year that Texas Roadhouse included volunteer work during the company's conference. Last year they did volunteer work in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
"In years prior we had done the typical team building with games and fun in the sun, and we decided that through the humanitarian project the bonding opportunities were so much greater, plus our people walked away from that with such a sense of accomplishment in having made a difference in the community," said Juli Hart, vice president of business development. "It enables us as a company to spread a message that has meaning during our conferences (and) also enables us to give back to the communities in which we visit."
Gina Tobin, who runs a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Kentucky, didn't mind giving up a day at the beach to do volunteer work.
The company's volunteer work has scored points with the community, and at least some in Wai'anae, including health center CEO Richard Bettini, want them to come back.
In the meantime, "I'm ready to challenge Hawai'i companies now" to do more volunteer work in the community, Bettini said.
At least one other group to Hawai'i included service projects in their stay here recently. More than 120 delegates of the Professional Convention Management Association conference in January raised money for Kalihi Valley Housing and worked to beautify the area.
Texas Roadhouse worked with Habitat for Humanity, which managed the Wai'anae improvement projects that included making walking paths, creating a pond, and rehabilitating buildings.
The Wai'anae agencies were chosen largely because their services "are so critical to the endurance of the Hawaiian traditions and Hawaiian people," Hart said.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.
But employees and associates of one Mainland restaurant company spent yesterday in Hawai'i shoveling rocks, pouring concrete and building walkways in Wai'anae.
Volunteers from the Kentucky-based Texas Roadhouse restaurants work at the Ohana Ola O Kahumana Transitional Housing Facility in Wai'anae. The volunteer effort involved about 1,000 people and was part of Texas Roadhouse's annual conference this week on O'ahu.
"Everybody is hot, sweaty, dirty and sunburnt," she said while taking a break from clearing a walking trail at the Wai'anae health center. "But it's a good feeling. ... It brings us all together; we work as a team doing something that also helps out the community. It fills the heart. To do this for one afternoon makes it all worthwhile to go back to your restaurant and work hard everyday, knowing you've done good for somebody."
Chuck Melandor, with Mathew Regan, measures a piece of lumber during repair work at Ohana Ola O Kahumana.
