Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2014 — OHA 2014 Kauaʻi meetings: July 16 and 17 [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA 2014 Kauaʻi meetings: July 16 and 17

Aloha from Kaua'i and Ni'ihau! Mahalo this month to Trustee Carmen Hulu

Lindsey, our Maui Island Trustee, who hosted the Trustees as we kicked off our summer season of Neighbor Island Community and BOT meetings back in May. It was another opportunity for the Tmstees to visit with our beneficiaries and hear them share their mana'o on a wide range of issues affecting the Hawaiian community. We also had time for a eouple infor-

mative site visits to Pu'u Kukui Watershed Preserve and with Na Aikane O Maui. At PKW, Pōmaika'i Kaniaupio-Crozier and his crew showed us the largest Native Hawaiian seed bank in Hawai'i at its Napilihau Baseyard. Hulu always puts so mueh thought and aloha into her site visits, so it is always something to look forward to. Ke'eaumoku and U'ilani Kapu and their board invited us to join a Maori group they were hosting, whieh ended with an 'ono dinner and cultural exchange, and the Maori performing for us as well. Mahalo Hulu, Pōmaika'i, Ke'eaumoku, U'ilaniandMaui! As an OHA Trustee, one of the highlights for me as a neighbor island Trustee is the annual opportunity I have to host my fellow Trustees on Kaua'i. This year's OHA Kaua'i meetings and site visit are scheduledforWednesday, July 16 and Thursday, July 17. Our Kaua'i Community Meeting will be on Wednesday, July 16 at 6:30 p.m. This year, we will be using the Wilcox Elementary School cafeteria, located at 4319 Hardy St. in Līhu'e. When we have these meetings, OHA shares some updates on our programs, services and initiatives. But the main purpose is to hear from you, our beneficiaries and eom-

munity members. The official Kaua'i Board of Trustees Meeting will be the following morning, on Thursday, July

17 at 9 a.m. As is our tradition, we will be using Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center's office and lānai area, located at 4530 Kali Road in Līhu'e. Both the Community Meeting and BOT Meeting are open to the public. I invite you to join us to hear about some of what OHA

does, what some of our Kaua'i partners are doing and to share your mana'o with me, my fellow Trustees and our OHA staff. Please help me to weleome these OHA visitors to our Beautiful Kaua'i. If you can't make it, don't worry, you ean always visit our OHA Kaua'i office at 4405 Kukui Grove St., across Kukui Grove Shopping Center, and next to Pyramid Insurance. This is actually the second meeting I am hosting on Kaua'i this year, following a Community Listening Session I sponsored in the early part of our year. And our OHA staff have or are hosting other events, so I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to kūkākūkā with those of us at OHA. Finally, here's a shoutout to the 20 members and guests of the Kaua'i Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce (knhee. org) who attended its June mixer. Remembering that "an eeonomie engine supports a vibrant eommunity," they eame, they heard, they discussed and they suggested ideas regarding OHA's eeonomie development initiatives for OHA, Native Hawaiians and all of Hawai'i nei. Mahalo nui loa ! ■

Dan Ahuna

TrustEE, Kaua'i aud Ni'ihau