North Shore NewsBy Antya Miller, President
The first six months of this year have been very busy, but very gratifying! We received a grant from the Cooke Foundation to obtain a computer, museum software and other equipment to set up an exhibit/heritage center in the Waialua Agriculture Building. Our plan is to open the exhibit December 7th this year.
We also received an Atherton Family Foundation grant to renovate the room the exhibit will be in and to hire a part-time archivist. We hired a retired Anthropologist who lives in our community as the archivist and are now getting bids to renovate the exhibit room.
We have started our Capital Fundraising Campaign, thanks to an initial donation of $10,000 at the end of last year. The fund is now worth $16,000 and our goal is $100,000. Only 85% more to go until the end of 2025! Donate at our website www. WaialuaHistoricalSociety.org. .
Finally, the greatest news is that on June 20th, the Mayor came to visit us. We had met with the Managing Director Mike Formby and Councilman Matt Weyer a couple of times. The Mayor decided this is a worthy project and we are now working with Director Krucky of Community Services to fund the possible purchase of the building. Ownership would enable us to obtain grants to rehabilitate the deteriorating structure that would not be available otherwise. We are amazed and excited at how quickly this came about, but there are still challenges that must be overcome.
On his visit, Mayor Blangiardi sat with us on the restored pair of pickup truck benches that face each other, just outside our office (see photo). He remarked “How it must have felt to sit like this, every day, going to the fields, to ‘bust your ‘ōkole all day.’ Then he quipped that, at age 77, he has ‘GSD.’ We asked, what’s that? He said ‘Get Stuff Done!’ That’s what he wants to do, just ‘Get Stuff Done.’
Mahalo to our 2024 Board of Directors including Julie Patacchia, Museum Chair, Margaret Sagaysay, Membership & Programs Chair, and Cy Yamanoha, Marketing & Communications Chair. Also on our Board are Keith Awai, Vice President, Evelyn Kaneshige, Secretary, Boyd Ready, Treasurer, and myself. www.WaialuaHistoricalSociety.org