1,000 Texas Roadhouse
volunteers will descend
on Waianae

Employees of the mainland restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse Inc. are in Hawaii for an annual conference and will make a big splash today on Oahu's Leeward Coast.

Nearly 1,000 employees of the company, which is based in Kentucky, are being bused to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Kahumana Community Center and Waianae Community Outreach for a full day of service projects that have been six months or more in the planning.

"It is estimated that the economic impact of the project is $500,000," said Travis Doster, Texas Roadhouse publicist.

The visitor-volunteers will use more than $100,000 in materials and supplies the company purchased locally for the service project. Individually, they also have donated cash and cooking utensils, dollars, diapers and other goods to the nonprofits. The company's vendors, including Coca-Cola, Tyson Foods and SS Kemp Co., are donating as well.

"They are coordinating this through Habitat for Humanity," said Richard Bettini, chief executive of Waianae Comp, as it is informally called.

"They've been sending teams of people and we've been getting ready and planning the project. It's got us organized and focused," Bettini said.

Everyone else can focus on work being done at the center, via webcams that were being adjusted yesterday.

For the nonprofit health center, "the idea is to create a wellness campus here, not just a sterile (medical facility)," he said.

The center's 17 acres will be transformed with a walking trail, sports courts, gardens and orchards "so that when you come here you'll feel like you're in a wellness setting."

The aging administration building also will get a makeover. "These are the things sometimes you can't get done, with limited capital," said Bettini.

Another recipient of the goodwill and elbow grease is Kahumana, which has worked with the chronically mentally ill since before its move to Waianae in 1978. In 1990 it established Ohana Ola, a transitional program for homeless families.

Major renovations, extension of decking and other construction work will enhance both facilities, said General Secretary Robert Zuckerman.

The facility is operating at capacity, with 15 adult mental health clients and 12 transitioning families, so the value of the service project is, "inestimable."

"It is something that goes beyond the moment. We're the people who are here now. (The work will give) us more stability for the future."

To say mahalo to the volunteers, clients and staff of the nonprofits and area residents will hold workshops on lei making, hula and other cultural practices.