November 30, 2008

Photo by Anna Weaver

Maunaloa residents pick up their food bags at the Thanksgiving gathering, Nov. 15.

Supported by the Catholic Church, the west Molokai town of Maunaloa rallies after Ranch closure

Story and photos by Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

MAUNALOA, Molokai

Sometimes it seems like the people of Maunaloa, on the West end of Molokai, can’t catch a break.

Molokai Ranch, the island’s largest private employer and land owner, shut down operations on April 5 followed by the layoffs of about 100 workers. The ranch-owned movie theater, gas station, golf course, hotel properties and cattle operations, in and around Maunaloa all were shuttered.

As Maunaloa General Store co-owner John Pele puts it, “This is as bad as I have ever seen it. Some days I’ll walk out here and it’s like being in ‘The Twilight Zone,’ there’s nobody, not even a car.”

Out of the 98 people that were laid off by Molokai Ranch, according to John’s mother Janice, 38 of them were from Maunaloa. By her recent count, the community has 140 families. That many layoffs had a huge impact.

Adding to the town’s troubles were an increase in water rates by 178 percent on Sept. 1 and recent word that Maunaloa School might be closing. The downturn in the U.S. economy certainly isn’t helping.

But while the situation is daunting, residents say that people wondering how Maunaloa will survive underestimate the spirit of the town and of Molokai.

“I was just telling someone that although we lose something, we need to replace the balance,” said Janice Pele, who is the community food bank and thrift store coordinator and a member of the Maunaloa Ohana I Lokahi Association (MOILA).

“And because we’re such a small and close-knit community, we help each other.”

Preparations

That spirit extended beyond the town boundaries on Nov. 15 when MOILA worked with the Diocese of Honolulu’s Office for Social Ministry and several Oahu parishes to organize an early Thanksgiving meal and distribution of food bags for the upcoming holiday at the town’s Catholic church, St. Vincent Ferrer. MOILA provided the meal and the church provided the bags.

On the afternoon of Nov. 14, about 20 volunteers from Maunaloa, Blessed Damien Catholic Parish (which encompasses St. Vincent, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Kaluaaha and St. Sophia in Kaunakakai), and Oahu and Maui set up a food bag assembly line under a tent next to St. Vincent.

In two hours, 180 reusable cloth grocery bags were filled with boxes of stuffing and potatoes, cranberry sauce, brown sugar and marshmallows, rice, canned fruit and other pantry staples. Attached to each bag was an envelope that included a gift certificate for a turkey to be picked up the following week at the Maunaloa General Store, which has been struggling itself.

“We couldn’t afford to do the bags ourselves because our association is too small,” Janice Pele said. “The food bank is getting littler and littler and littler.”

Sometimes she can only give out a few cans to a family that comes to the pantry door.

Pele said when she first heard that the Catholic Church was planning to support Maunaloa, she didn’t believe it.

“[When the Ranch first closed] a lot of people came to the community and were telling me they were going to do this and do that,” she said. “They took all the information, and then they never did come back.

“Finally, something like this happened. It was very overwhelming for me to the point where I felt like I wanted to cry because I couldn’t believe the tremendous help people out there can do.”

Iwie Tamashiro, OSM’s co-director for Parish Social Ministry, has headed up the diocese’s Molokai outreach efforts, working with Molokai social ministry coordinators, Deacon Mike Shizuma and his wife Leoda, and Sacred Hearts Father Clyde Guerreiro, the pastor of Blessed Damien Catholic Parish.

She said that since Bishop Larry Silva’s “Diocesan Pastoral Response to Job Loss” proposal was issued on May 1, the church has been very proactive in its efforts to help the island and that many parishes have taken action.

But Tamashiro added that she has emphasized to volunteers, “It’s very important that we send a message to the community that, ‘We’re here with you, we’re not here for you.’”

“We need to treat each person that we’re offering a gift to with dignity and respect,” she said.

Answering the call

Coming along with Tamashiro on Nov. 14 to answer the Catholic call of support were Bill Castro and Bob Mandap of St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani, Oahu, and Marie and Tony LaBanca of Maria Lanakila Parish in Lahaina, Maui.

“I was reading and hearing about what was going on with Molokai Ranch closing down, the distress that people were in,” said Marie LaBanca, who is Maria Lanakila’s outreach coordinator. “It just became a personal thing with me because I look at that island every day. I just said, ‘We have to do something.’”

With the support of the pastor, Father Gary Colton, Maria Lanakila contributed money for the Thanksgiving bags and other outreach efforts. In July it sent over by ferry six boxes of school supplies.

At St. John Apostle and Evangelist, Castro organized the eight-member Hui O Laulima (Group of Helping Hands) which developed a 38-page plan on how the parish could assist those who have lost their jobs. Pastor Father Manny Hewe backed the parish’s spearheading a collection of food for the Thanksgiving baskets, which filled a Young Brothers shipping container. They also paid for the turkeys, which Tamashiro recommended be purchased through the Maunaloa General Store to support the local business.

“It’s one of these things where God asks you, and then he provides you the means,” Castro said.

Mandap added, “The way the economy has kind of crashed in the past couple of months is making people more aware of the need to tighten up in some areas, but also needing to reach out.”

Deacon and Mrs. Shizuma have led Molokai-based social ministry efforts since Deacon Shizuma was ordained almost two years ago. For Leoda, it’s been a welcome and overwhelming thing to see other island volunteers, mostly in the Leeward Oahu, Central Oahu, West Honolulu and Maui vicariates, step in to aid her island.

“I can’t imagine how much they’re giving just to support us here on Molokai. It’s just tremendous,” she said.

Giving thanks

On Nov. 15, the tables were set with bright yellow table cloths and the chunky beef and vegetable stew, rice and potato salad were prepared.

Island transplants from Missouri, Frank and Cathy Parrino, added a last minute touch to the food bags by tying orange ribbon to the handles. They had to stretch it because, as Frank said, “We didn’t realize there were going to be this many bags!”

Tamashiro also discovered that not everything goes as planned when organizing the day’s meal. She had originally hoped to serve whole chickens and a traditional Thanksgiving feast, but when that fell through, MOILA said it would provide the beef stew.

“I thought, ‘You know what, that feels better,’” Tamashiro said. “That feels like community.”

About 150 people came out for a prayer service and lunch. Around 140 bags were distributed (some dropped off along with beef stew plates at the homes of those who didn’t come) with 47 more bags going to families back in Kaunakakai.

As they ate and talked story, people expressed the feelings that such a gathering brought to their careworn community.

“It’s been heartbreaking,” said Yolanda Reyes, one of the four employees who were kept on by Molokai Ranch. “All the people you work with who lost jobs and have children. So events like this are very, very nice.”

Maunaloa resident and St. Vincent parishioner Janeel Hew said, “All of this is really a blessing because there are a lot of people that are just barely making it. On top of having to pay an outrageous water bill, you get people on set incomes. With the holidays coming up, it gets really depressing.”

For Irene Laemoa, getting a Thanksgiving bag meant her family would get to celebrate the holiday on Nov. 27.

“I wasn’t planning on having any kind of anything for Thanksgiving or Christmas, because we have employment problems,” she said.

With her daughter laid off from the ranch, her husband with only a small, part-time job and Laemoa retired, she said, “There is no money for special occasions.”

“If it wasn’t for God, we wouldn’t be eating, we wouldn’t have a shelter.”

MOILA vice-president Kehau Pule, who along with Janice Pele is described by Maunaloa community members as one of the influential aunties in keeping the Maunaloa spirit alive, said, “I told [Janice], ‘See this is part of the Lord working with us.’”

“We have to look beyond Molokai Ranch knowing that God will take care of our community and bring it back to life,” Pule said. “He never failed us; he isn’t about to fail us now.”

Parishes and individuals looking for ways they can contribute can e-mail molocath1@hawaiiantel.net with attention to Leoda Shizuma.