Service Project: Puuloa Shores Beautification

The Bike Path near Blaisdell Park is such a wonderful place with beautiful views. Members of the community can walk along the path that overlook the view of Pearl Harbor and beyond. Though it is sad to see, over time the path became covered with trash and many invasive, non-native plants. However, thanks to the Rotary Club of Pearlridge, the Highlands Intermediate Interact Club was able to revisit the path and clean up a good portion of it one Saturday morning. When we arrived we were eager and ready to help! We had our gloves and tools at the ready. We split into two groups. One group was worked to clear all the trash on the beach while everyone else was clearing out the invasive species. In the end, we picked up all the trash in the area and cleared out a huge chunk of invasive plants. It was very hot but those four hours of work were worth it knowing we were able to contribute to the path of a cleaner and better environment!

Service Project: Malama Pu'uloa

Malama Pu`uloa is the primary program of Hui o Ho`ohonua. Hui o Ho`ohonua (HOH) is a non-profit created by members of the `Ewa community. Their primary mission is to end the perpetuation of historical trauma to the land, water, and people in the `Ewa Moku. We are best described as a community stewardship networking organization. Since 2016, they have been engaging community members and school groups to participate in service learning work days at Pouhala Marsh and at Kapapapuhi Point Park. Through their Mālama Pu`uloa program, they have engaged over 5,000 volunteers and brought almost $2 million dollars of funding for their work. HOH are empowering and connecting groups of all ages in the community to create positive change - seeking to cultivate a strong sense of stewardship, pride and kuleana.

Aunty Sandy of Malama Pu’uloa came to Highlands to educate and then perpetuate to our eager Student Council members. She shared the mission and vision of Malama Pu’uloa and engaged us all with a project to propagate native Hawaiian akulikuli at our school to later be used in a reforesting project at Kapapapuhi Point Park later in the year. It was such an awesome opportunity to connect with our elders for such an important mission!