GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@ STARBULLETIN.COM
St. Theresa Church in south Maui offers a free dinner to those in need, including the homeless. The program has grown since it began in 1991.
Kihei church provides
daily meal to needySt. Theresa's offers the only free
dinner for the poor in South Maui
KIHEI, Maui >> Marie Osaki said she had to do something to demonstrate her gratitude for being able to walk again after six months in a wheelchair.
She decided to help in a free meal program for the poor at St. Theresa Church near Star Market in Kihei.
"It was a calling. It was a ministry to me," said Osaki, who has been with the program since 1995 and now works as the kitchen manager.
The Hale Kau Kau Program, begun in 1991, has grown from a little shack near the minister's home to a building with an industrial kitchen serving about 120 meals a day.
St. Theresa Church is the only daily free-dinner program for the needy in south Maui, one of the fastest growing communities in the state.
The region from Maalaea to La Perouse Bay has a land mass equal to Honolulu and some adjoining suburbs, stretching from Diamond Head to Pearl City.
Homelessness has grown, as the community has assumed a more urban character in the last 25 years.
Osaki said besides a $15,000 grant from Maui County, church members, visitors and businesses have donated money and contributed kitchen appliances, including an ice maker and convection ovens.
Every year for the past five years, the church has organized a luau fund-raiser for the Hale Kau Kau program. The next fund-raiser is scheduled for Feb. 7 at the Wailea Marriott.
Osaki said the church has more than 100 volunteers who cook, clean and serve the food.
Some also use their personal cars and pay their own gasoline to deliver meals to about 45 people who have limited mobility and are living at home.
"It's the people who support us that make this program go," Osaki said.
The Rev. James A. Berry of St. Theresa said the church receives a lot of support from visitors and Osaki had to turn down offers of help during Christmas because the program had too many volunteers.
Osaki said she was operating her own hot-dog stand business at a mall on Maui when she fell and had a hip fracture in 1994 that caused her to be in a wheelchair for six months.
She said once she was able to walk again she decided to give more time to volunteer work at Hale Kau Kau Program. Eventually, it led to her job as kitchen manager.
"Things happen in your life, and it makes you stop and think," she said. "Some things are not easy, but they're enjoyable."
