Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 7, 1 July 1992 — Neighbors help spruce up Nanakuli homestead [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Neighbors help spruce up Nanakuli homestead

Mai ka pu'u pohaku, he 'aina, kuku ka hale, Pa'a ka home me ke aloha, mai ka hale mai ka lani mai. From hills of rocks, sand and dirt, a house is built And a home with love is a gift from above. Kupuna Katherine Maunakea

by Deborah L Ward With paintbrushes, shovels, and rakes and a "hiki no" spirit, volunteers demonstrated their commitment to bettering their Nanakuli eommunity by turning up to paint the home and landscape the yard of Eleanor Wilson, a Nanakuli homestead resident. The "Paint Your Heart Out Day" was organized by the Nanakuli Neighborhood Housing Services, ine. It is a community-based nonprofit organization whieh brings together loeal residents, business leaders and government officials to improve the quality of life for Nanakuli residents. To transform Wilson's Kamehameha Highway lot, NHS provided a $1,500 loan to Wilson for exterior repair to her front and back porches and to replace the skirt of the house. Preliminary fix-up started the week before painting day. Painting contractor Lenny Nono of Lenny's Painting in Maili and his partner prepared the house for painting by spackling and sanding the exterior. Brian Yakata of Lusk Hawai'i donated paint and paintbrushes. Charles Naone of Charley's Moss Rock graded Wilson's yard for landscaping. Other volunteers helped Wilson's family clear the yard.

Beaming with pride and appreciation as she surveyed the activity around her, Wilson thanked the volunteers and NHS for selecting her home for the eleanup and beautification demonstration project. She said she hopes the project will encourage others to take pride in their Nanakuli neighborhood. Last month Wilson turned 70 and was selected because she has been a resident of Nanakuli for 31 years, and is on a fixed ineome. She has seven children, 23 grandchildren, and 21 great-grand-children. NHS executive director

unarnta iNaone Manoe was born, raised and still lives in Nanakuli Homestead. She says the Nanakuli community numbers 10,000, more than half of whom are Native Hawaiians on homestead land. She said the Nanakuli NHS is unique because it serves both homestead and non-homestead residents with housing revitalization, financial counseling, loan assistance, construction monitoring and community involvement. Since the program's inception in 1989, Nanakuli NHS has: • completed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands that authorizes a guarantee of home repair loans for native Hawaiian lessees;

• established a Youth Works program for at-risk teenagers; • organized and participated in community elean-up projects; • assisted over 25 families in the completion of needed home repairs; and • assisted over 200 residents in financial and housing rehabilitation counseling. Nanakuli Neighborhood Housing Services, ine., is part of a national network of 175 nonprofit NeighborWorks organizations producing affordable housing and revitalizing more than 336 neighborhoods in 143 cities. The congres-sionally-chartered Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation serves as the network's anchor and catalyst.

A fresh coat of paint goes on and plants go into the yard to transform the Nanakuli homestead of Eleanor Wilson.