Subject: Kahakuloa Church Renovation/Village of Kahakuloa – Maui, HI
Aloha fellow kama’aina, residents, retailers and all other caring people of Maui. Please allow me to introduce myself and explain the intent of this letter. My name is Scott Walker and I am president of the Kanaka Hekili Motorcycle Club on Maui. The purpose of this letter is to draw community support to help restore and rebuild a cultural and historic landmark here on Maui.
As a community based club on this beautiful island we have ridden every twist and turn but by far one of our favorite places is the beautiful and quaint village of Kahakuloa. On one of our recent visits to the village we were blessed to have the gracious company of Kahakuloa’s Kapuna, Uncle Richard Ho’opi’i. Uncle Richard was gracious as always and as we sat with him and talked story, taking in his wisdom we had an additional gift when Uncle Richard broke out his ukulele and played for us. As we sat in the beautiful village listing to Uncle Richard's music we could not help but notice the disrepair of their sacred church.
At first glance it was obvious that the 100 plus year old church was in dire need of some restoration. We first noticed that the church steeple is leaning and at a closer inspection of the church we also noticed that windows are cracked, floors and siding are rotten, paint is peeling and they are in urgent need of a wheel chair ramp as they currently have to physically lift disabled people into the church.
It was discussed between our club and Uncle Richard that we, the Kanaka Hekili Motorcycle Club would volunteer our services, time and labor to help restore their church.
Kahakuloa was founded in 1887 and has a current population of 137 God loving people. It is the greatest desire of our club to help the people of Kahakuloa restore and improve this beautiful church which is such a vital part of their lives and make it a safer place of worship for all villagers. Also, for the church to continue to be the center piece of the village for the younger and future generation of this beautiful village of Kahakuloa.
The Kanaka Hekili Motorcycle Club will supply our time and labor but are reaching out to the community for your help and support of this great cause. We humbly ask our fellow islanders and suppliers to help in any way possible. From donating of materials to monetary donations to physical labor as we move forward with this project.
I have personally sent out to Kahakuloa a licensed contractor and a professional estimator to assess the conditions of the church. The material cost alone for the repairs is going to run about 20K. We have the repairs broken down into seven stages with the most urgent need being the wheel chair ramp.
Please find attached a power point presentation which will show you each of the repair stages and estimated costing for each stage. We will execute each portion of the repairs as we receive the materials or funding for each stage. In addition we will post on our Kanaka Hekili web-site all before and after pictures of the work being completed so you can share in the repair and restoration of this beautiful church.
Please help us help the Kahakuloa Villagers by doing what you can to support this great cause. For all questions, donations or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me personally or our club treasurer anytime at the following.
Scott Walker – Cell # 808-344-9641 Jim Lapham – Cell # 808-264-0168
President - Kanaka Hekili Motorcycle Club / Maui Treasurer – Kanaka Hekili Motorcycle Club / Maui
Email: alphaomegaman2@aol.com Email: laphamj001@hawaii.rr.com
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