Community Service Report
HUBWA Humanitarian Dana Donation
On Aug. 26, 2023, at the HUBWA Joint Education and General Membership Conference, the Dana Comm. of HUBWA (Liane Wong, Chair, and Susan Okano and Sandra Toma) presented Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani with a Humanitarian Dana Donation of $3,000 to HHMH. This donation, from HUBWA’s Dana Funds, is intended for Lahaina Hongwanji Mission.
Peace Day 2023
The “Ring Your Bells for Peace Day” event was especially meaningful on Peace Day, Sept. 21, 2023, because participants were ringing their bells for Peace Day and for Maui Strong. Bell ringers could be seen on Zoom demonstrating their support for Maui Strong by wearing Maui’s color – pink. Following the bell ringing and Peace Day program on Zoom, BWA members who had participated in bell ringing at Hawaii Betsuin gathered on the “Peace Walkway”, which was decorated with bamboo poles and origami cranes, and took Peace Day 2023 photos with HHMH and Hawaii Betsuin Peace Day celebrants.
Honu for Keiki
Mahalo to Claire Groom and Sharon Yokoyama for coordinating sessions in Eshinni room for BWA members to make Honu for Keiki as a holiday community service project. Session 1 was Aug. 30 – Sept. 1, Session 2 was Sept. 27 - 28, and the third session was Oct. 18 – 19. Honu-making will continue Oct. 25 - 26. Thanks to Pres. Jo for sewing many honu at home!
BWA Clean-up
Pres. Jo led a huge effort to clean up and organize BWA rooms and storage areas from mid-July to mid-October 2023. Providing invaluable assistance in this undertaking were Denise Sueyoshi and Shirly Kang. The Japanese library (1) was a big focal point.
During the clean-up, Pres. Jo and Liane Wong found homes for quite a few donated items. (2) Several Okinawan dolls were given to the Jikoen temple. (3) 40 boxes of books, DVDs, and records were donated to the Friends of the Library. (4) An underwater viewer was given to the Boy Scouts. (5) Claire Groom and her friend took many, many truckloads of items to the Friends of the Library and to Savers. (6) Camp cookware was given to the Girl Scouts. In addition, Moiliili was given several car loads of items for their Oct. 1 Rummage Sale. It was decided that when folks purchased items that had been donated to BWA for its rummage sale, the monies would be placed in a Clean-up Fund and a part of this Fund would be donated to HHMH for Maui Wildfire Disaster Relief. So far, Hawaii Betsuin BWA has donated $1,500 to HHMH for Maui Wildfire Disaster Relief.
Honolulu Pride Parade
The Hawaii Betsuin Social Concerns Committee (SCC) registered for a place in the Honolulu Pride Parade on Sat., Oct. 21. Honolulu and Oahu district temples and organizations were invited to participate in the parade starting at Magic Island and ending at Kapiolani Park. The SCC hosted a sign-making session on Oct. 18.
Submitted by Wendie Yumori - October 2024
