SHINING STARS
Garden Isle honors Ho and Kashiwabara
As part of a statewide recognition program sponsored on Kauai by the county Agency on Elderly Affairs,
Naoko Ho of Waimea and
Richard "Soupbone" Kashiwabara of Lihue have been named Kauai's 2008 Outstanding Older Americans.
Ho, a retired teacher, is a longtime member of the West Kauai Lions Club; a board member of the Waimea Alumni & Friends Foundation, and winner of its Spirit Award for her contributions to Waimea High School and the west-side community; and an active member of the Waimea Senior Center, among many other organizations.
Kashiwabara, a former electrician, was selected by the Kauai Okinawan Club, Hui Alu, as the 2006 Uchinanchu of the Year, and received the Kauai Veterans Council Certificate of Achievement in 2004. He also received the President George Bush Award for volunteering more than 11,000 hours through the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program.
Volunteers Jeannie Vave and Eric Kawaguchi of the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific have been honored with the AT&T Award of Excellence for 2008, which comes with a $3,000 scholarship for continuing education. Vave, a 15-year volunteer, is coordinator for the Medicare program of Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility-Patient Assessment Instrument. Kawaguchi, a physical therapist of more than six years, is involved with the REHAB-at-Work and Work Health programs, the Arthritis Club and the aquatic therapy program.
Shining Stars appears several times a week in the Star-Bulletin