JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gov. Linda Lingle embraced Elizabeth Chargualalf after being presented with a bag of homemade cookies baked by Chargualalf's son and other residents of Onelauena transitional shelter. CLICK FOR LARGE
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A home for the holidays
A visit from Lingle helps celebrate the successes of residents at Onelauena shelter
THE RESIDENTS of the Onelauena emergency shelter in Kalaeloa celebrated their first Christmas together yesterday.
Residents prepared their own meal, booked musical ensembles for entertainment, and choreographed dances to entertain Gov. Linda Lingle and other guests.
"We are very blessed," said Kanani Bulawan, executive director of Waianae Community Outreach, the shelter's service provider.
"The success is 98 percent are drug free," she said. "Ninety-five percent of them have their children back.
"Life is happening for them," she added. "They're not asking for a handout, they need a hand up."
Bulawan added that within 30 days several of the residents will move into transitional housing.
About 235 residents, including 115 children, live in more than 70 converted military barracks units.
"I'm mostly happy for the kids, that they have a shelter," said Onelauena resident Larry Canoni.
Canoni, 54, said the finance program at the shelter teaches him to save money and budget his expenses, while social workers make sure he has rent money before moving out of the shelter.
"You earn your living by keeping the place clean," said Keala Hernandez, 23, who became homeless in January after a cousin she was staying with was threatened with eviction for allowing her to stay.
"This time of year, it's cold. It's raining, so my clothes get all wet and my blankets get all wet," she said.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
8-year-old Kiinani Gusman, left, reacted with Kalena Smith, 8, as the two watched Gov. Linda Lingle's arrival at Onelauena transitional shelter in Kalaeloa yesterday afternoon. CLICK FOR LARGE
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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
4-year-old Carmilah Lopez received some assistance with her Christmas present from Kanani Bulawan, executive director of Waianae Community Outreach, as Lingle passed out more gifts to children in the background. The shelter opened Oct. 29 as part of the state's efforts to work collaboratively with the community and other partners to find solutions to the homeless problem in Hawaii. The shelter houses about 210 residents, about 100 of whom are children. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Thurston Pacific, a general contracting company, donated more than 100 wrapped gifts, one for each child.
"It's nice. This is what I've always wanted," said 12-year-old Tara Toro, who received a pair of new roller blades.
Twelve-year-old Zachariah Uila Vaapuu, who was enjoying his new football, said he likes living at the shelter.
"They get us Band-Aids and they help us. They always take us everywhere. We keep having field trips," he said.
Lingle watched the dances performed by the children and then helped pass out gifts.
"It's a great time of the year because you can give them hope," she said. "That's what they needed more than anything. They needed an opportunity to get their lives stabilized and back on track."
Construction on a new homeless shelter near the Waianae Civic center, which is expected to house about 300 people, is proceeding faster than expected and should be completed at the end of January, said Kaulana Park, state homeless coordinator for the Leeward Coast.