Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, 1 January 1988 Edition 02 — Making History in Hawaii [ARTICLE]

Making History in Hawaii

Chairman Says Mahalo to All

By Moses K. Keale Sr., Chairman OHA Board of Trustees Trustee, Ni'ihau and Kaua'i I am overwheirned with joy on this Day of Ho'olokahi — a Day that marks the end of the year of Ho'olako, and signais the beginning of a new era of Hawaiian Unity.

As a member of the planning committee I have had the opportunity to watch the evoiution of this Day as it grew from a dream, got translated into a plan of action by a dynamic committee and finally gathered momentum and life of its own until it vibrated with the energy of every ethnic group at all levels of Hawaiian society. Ho'olokahi Day is a gift to Hawaiians from Hawaiians and every ethnic group in Hawaii, because truly every race is represented here today. There have been countless offers of support in the form of pledges of money, time and labor, food,

entertainment, music, equipment and all the hundreds of details that go into the success of an undertaking as huge as this one. Groups and organizations of all shapes, colors and sizes have eome forth and offered to help. Unions and individuals are assisting in their own expert, and not-so-expert ways — literally hundreds of people working together for the eommon cause of Ho'olokahi. And the neighbor islands have not been forgotten as the Ohana on Oahu open their homes in weleome and hospitality. Naturally, a project of

this measure has had a few flaws, and in this case it was probably the immediate tidal wave of response for tickets that promised a full capacity at the stadium. This response was unexpected and overpowering, and the committee that had been eoncerned about a half-empty stadium was now faced with the opposite problem of not being able to accommodate all the requests.

Also unexpected was the number of families that are using this event as a family reunion, gathering theirohana from nearandfar. Toyouwe say weleome, mahalo for coming today. May your numbers and strength increase. As Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs I want to congratulate all of you for making the commitment to be here and actively participating in this most wonderful day of days for Hawaiians and Hawaii. To those of you who have labored so tirelessly over the past weeks, especially during the final homestretch, my deepest mahalo for an outstanding job.

As a wise and thoughtful Hawaiian onee shared with me, "A single grain of sand does not make a beach," and today this is most definitely a beach of the first magnitude. Thank you for helping us to make history in Hawaii. When the songs are written and the stories are toid, we will all remember this Day of Ho'olokahi with pride and humble gratitude.