CAPTAIN COOK — The team is formed and the task ahead is straight forward.
Save the garden.
How exactly the recently formed nonprofit, Friends of Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, does that hasn’t been mapped out, but the group took a big step forward by cementing its 501(c) status and electing a 16-member board.
“We’re dedicated to seeing it back to where it used to be,” Malie Melrose, board president, told a group of Friends members at the garden Saturday night during its inaugural meeting. “We’re all growing day by day like a big ulu tree.”
The group earned its nonprofit standing May 24, but the board was officially introduced and approved by vote during the charter gathering that also celebrated Arbor Day. Operating as a nonprofit allows for easy avenues to raising funds — it makes them tax deductible for donors and provides grant opportunities — as well as focuses the organization’s mission, a way to give the garden an official voice.
“This was her life,” said M.E. “Meg” Greenwell, Amy’s niece, and board member, told the crowd of roughly 40 who all want to see the grounds reopened. “She loved this property and wanted it to be taken care of. And it’s sad what has transpired with Bishop Museum wanting to get rid of it. But in a way it’s a blessing because if they can’t take care of it, we can.”
The 15-acre garden closed Jan. 31 after its owner, Bishop Museum on Oahu, said it was putting the land for sale. It was also listing 547 acres of land in Waipio and estimates around that time had the property valued at $10 million.
The news hit the community hard. When Amy Greenwell died at age 53 in 1974, she left the property to Bishop Museum as an educational and cultural resource. The goal was to create an experience in which visitors and locals alike could revisit the Hawaiian past and explore the environmental splendors of ancient Hawaii, according to the museum. Since its closure, more people have asked to volunteer to weed, but thousands of school groups have been denied access thousands of kids before them had.
It’s still tough for some to accept. But the charter meeting was to let everyone know a plan, some plan, will be put in action.
“It was very sad and tragic when it was first announced,” Meg Greenwell said about Bishop selling the land, which members added the museum agreed it wouldn’t put it on the open market. “But we have so much positive energy. Everyone who talks about the garden agrees, this is the road to a wonderful beginning for this place.”
Janet Britt, Hawaii Island director of Hawaii Islands Land Trust, said her nonprofit is aware of how special the garden is to people and will be willing to do all it can to help. HILT works with private and community groups to protect precious spaces and she said the Public Access Open Space commission recently ranked the garden its No. 1 priority.
“The land trust knows the Amy Greenwell Garden is a treasure and we are very concerned about its future,” she said about being willing to help the new group. “We don’t know what that looks like, but we really know that it has to go forward and we’re trying to find a good solution.”
Prior to the meeting, the garden was open for tours. People mingled through the grounds checking out the breadfruit, bananas, taro plants and 200 native plant species.
“Everything,” said Manuel Rego, former garden foreman who’s given tours to what he estimates is at least 50,000 school kids over his three decades of service, about what his favorite part is of sharing the land with people. He was leading a group on Saturday. “That’s why it was so heartbreaking when Bishop decided to shut it down.”
But a group is formed and focused to get it back up. It’s looking for partners willing to help purchase the land. Local control is key, which is why they say Bishop’s sale can turn into a blessing, but plenty of work remains, including getting word out to help build support.
“One thing everybody here can do to help is help us build membership,” said Nathan Smith, board member and attorney who acted pro-bono to help the group earn its 501(c)3 designation. “Getting a large membership is very important.”
Info: Friends of Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is on Facebook, and to become a member costs $5.