Halawa inmates
plan walk-a-thon for
Big Brothers/Sisters

They hope 'this opens the door
for other things happening in the prison'

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

A group of community-minded men who swore off drugs and alcohol will hold a walk-a-thon this week to raise money for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Honolulu, although the public will never see them do it.

That's because the two-day event will be in the recreation field of Halawa Correctional Facility, with inmates doing laps around the jail yard to raise money for the charity.

"This is the first time this is happening here, first time any type of event, other than rec, is happening in the field," Halawa inmate Kaleihau Kamauu wrote to the Ahupuaa Action Alliance's Lynette Cruz on Oct. 4.

"I hope this creates a better rapport between us guys and administration, and that this opens the door for other things happening in the prison," he said.

Kamauu and about 75 other men from Halawa's "Clean & Sober Quad," along with graduates and students of the prison's Level II Substance Abuse Treatment Program, wrote to Halawa Warden Eric Penarosa on Sept. 27 asking he support their idea of a walk-a-thon.

They wanted to be part of "Make a Difference Day," a national day of good deeds held on the fourth Saturday of October sponsored by USA Weekend Magazine.

The event begins Thursday with a four-hour walk around the prison field at 7 a.m., then resumes Saturday with a walk-a-thon around the module recreation yard.

Inmates then will create Halloween greeting cards for kids which will be distributed by Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

In a walk-a-thon flier, the inmates say of Big Brothers/Big Sisters: "We feel it is an honor to contribute to their cause. We know that it is efforts like theirs that also help to prevent kids from growing up and ending up in places like this."

Big Brothers Executive Director Dennis Brown said no one at the agency could recall any previous effort like this with inmates.

"In fact, they were a little worried at first about what might happen," he said.

Contacted by Halawa inmates a month ago, Brown said the men gave two reasons why they chose to help this Aloha United Way agency. The first, he said, is because some inmates have children who were forced to turn to Big Brothers when they went to prison.

The second reason is that many inmates said they grew up in single-parent families and didn't have a father or male role model, Brown said.

"And maybe if they did have somebody like our volunteers, our Big Brothers, they might not have ended up where they are. That really speaks to the heart of why we're doing what we do," he said.

Kamauu said most of the walk-a-thon participants don't have family or outside resources to ask for sponsors and are looking for help from the public, even if it is only 25 cents for the whole day. Inmates will be allowed to donate up to $20 from their spendable accounts.

Gary Kaplan, Offender Services administrator at Halawa, said prison officials support the event 100 percent. He said there will be enough security to allow the 75 inmates to participate in the walk.

"It's something that's new for us," Kaplan said.

"I think it's very promising to see that some of the inmates have this attitude that they want to try to give something back to the community."

Brown said Big Brothers received clearance from the Aloha United Way to allow the inmates to conduct a fund-raiser during October's AUW campaign, a time when member agencies are asked not to fund-raise.

Pledges and donations from the community may be made to: Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hawaii, c/o Halawa Walk-A-Thon, 418 Kuwili St. Suite 106, Honolulu 96817. Call 521-3811.