Workers pour concrete as part of an improvement at Pohakupu Mini Park across from Castle Medical Center in Kailua. Ann Medeiros spearheaded a campaign to put up a new swing set at the park.
Kailua park gets
its swings backResident Ann Medeiros collected
donations for the swings and
other park improvements
Ann Medeiros and son James are getting into the swing of things after a year of jumping over bureaucratic hurdles and raising money to help the children in their Kailua neighborhood.
She collected $30,000 in donations and $18,000 in free material, labor and services to put up swings in Pohakupu Mini Park. The swings will be dedicated at an 11 a.m. ceremony on Saturday.
"When I saw the first concrete being poured, I started to cry. ... It was almost like giving birth again!" Medeiros said. "It's amazing. ... Part of me can't believe it. ... So much has gone on and to see it actually happen."
A year ago, Medeiros and James found their favorite swing set was gone from the park near Castle Medical Center.
After making some calls to the city, the Kailua resident found out it would take four years to get new ones.
The city had removed the swing set for safety reasons and had no plans to replace it. So Medeiros decided to raise money and get the job done on her own.
First she got 330 signatures on a petition. Then the city told her it would take at least till 2007 for the project to start, after going through the City Council's approval process .
She thought: "That's not acceptable. That's too long to wait for a swing set; I mean, how hard can this be?"
Medeiros even called Mayor Jeremy Harris on Mike Buck's weekly radio talk show to tell him of the problem. When Harris told her, "There's nothing you can do," she thought to herself, "That's not the right answer. You don't know me."
She said, "It's not right that little kids get caught in the political crossfire."
Castle Medical Center was one of the first places she went to for help because it has a day-care program and probably made use of the swings. They said, "We would love to help you," as did the Windward Rotary Club.
Castle donated the most money -- about $23,000 -- and the city about $10,000 worth of park benches and tables. Ameron Hawaii donated $8,000 in concrete, "but we had to wait for the strike to be over," she said.
She used the petition to persuade other businesses and agencies. "Who's going to say 'no' to kids?" she said.
Three of the area's five lawmakers got the Legislature to appropriate some funds, and landscape artist Steve Mechler donated his services.
She also received help from Kiewit Pacific, Hardware Hawaii, the MOMS Club of Windward Oahu, Pohakupu-Kukanono Community Association, Wescon Microtunneling, Aloha Playgrounds and Kailua Neighborhood Board, among others.
The park also gained "two big, long (concrete) paths" and additional trees and landscaping that weren't there before. Some rusting fitness equipment was replaced, she said.
Anyone who wants to contribute to ongoing park improvements may e-mail Medeiros at aj_medeiros@yahoo.com or send a check to The Rotary Foundation, c/o Rotary Club of Windward Oahu, ATTN: Jerry Allen & Friends of Pohakupu Park, P.O. Box 122, Kailua, HI 96734.
