GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Homeless people were offered donated clothing yesterday at a social-services fair at Central Union Church.

Agencies set up tables at homeless campsites

Sleeping on the lawn will end within days at two town churches

Social service, health care and employment-training agencies gathered at Central Union Church yesterday to give dozens of homeless people who used to live at Ala Moana Park a dose of hope and a little help.

But they could not give them shelter.

Attendees were able to get information on transitional housing programs and low-cost or free health care. Some even signed up for replacement Social Security cards.

Dean Vestal, Central Union's city missionary, said the fair was organized in hopes of connecting the homeless to services. More than 20 agencies were asked to come yesterday and today, but only nine were able to.

They included the Salvation Army, Waikiki Health Center, Oahu Worklinks and Alu Like.

About 80 homeless people have been sleeping at Central Union since the city started closing Ala Moana park nightly on March 27. They will move on Monday morning.

Kawaiaha'o Church has housed about the same number nightly, and both churches are serving daily meals for more than 100 people. The homeless at Kawaiaha'o have been asked to leave tomorrow.

"We're feeling sad that we're not sure where our guests (the homeless) will go from here," Vestal said. "We wanted to connect them with as many agencies as we can."

Glaudia Sagapolutele and John Rivera sat in a corner at the fair yesterday, watching as providers talked to homeless across tables. The couple had made their rounds, and Sagapolutele was hopeful she would get a job with Oahu Worklinks after talking to two representatives.

Sagapolutele and Rivera said they planned to get married this summer and hoped to scrape up enough money with their meager welfare and disability checks to get into a place.

Sagapolutele said she was a prostitute for more than a decade before quitting in 2002. The homes she has lived in were those of friends and family members.

Rivera said he's been homeless for so long, he's used to it. He can't sleep indoors, he said with a laugh.

Just last year, Rivera lived in transitional housing in Pearl City. An agency tried to set him up with an apartment, he said, but they could not find a place cheap enough. So he moved back to Ala Moana park, where he had a tent, a tarpaulin and some fishing gear.

"We're going to have to find a place," Sagapolutele said as she fingered a thin scarf wrapped around her head.

Leinati Matautia, president of Ohana O Hawaii, a group composed of homeless staying at Kawaiaha'o, said she was thankful for the provider fair.

But Matautia was also disappointed that there was no showing from lawyers and drug addiction centers. "There's nothing too much here for a lot of us," she said.

Matautia also said the state should have attended the fair to give homeless an update on what is being done to provide a shelter for those displaced from Ala Moana.

On Monday the state announced that it was looking at three potential sites for a homeless camp. They are Sand Island park, Kalaeloa and a state-owned lot in Kakaako.