CAMP KILOHANA — It’s always nice to have a good neighbor — especially when you’re in a bind.
After a 12-inch diameter tree limb fell amid foul weather this past winter, damaging one of the cabins at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Kilohana, the nonprofit organization was in a predicament, needing to repair the sleeping quarters in time for the annual islandwide Girl Scouts campout this summer — but with little resources.
“We were really struggling to figure out how we were going to raise the money to get this done,” said Girl Scouts of Hawaii Council CEO Shari Chang, after noting the council recently spent $1.2 million upgrading the camp’s wastewater system to meet EPA standards.
That’s when the organization’s Hawaii Island area director, Marci Goldman-Manker, thought to reach out to the 54-year-old camp’s neighbor in the Saddle, the U.S. Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA).
“They were more than happy to come over and assist,” said Chang. “It was terrific.”
While Girl Scouts has always notified PTA when events are being held at the camp as the military base is the nearest emergency outpost, the relationship really began to grow last year after a Rotary Club meeting in Hilo. That was when Chang came over to speak to the club and discussed community involvement with the Girl Scouts, noting that the support the organization gets on Oahu from the military is hard to come by on the neighbor islands.
At that event was Lt. Col. Christopher Marquez, PTA’s commanding officer. A relationship was established. Later in the year, the Girl Scouts sent Marquez a request, and sure enough, the base’s military and civilian personnel came out to the camp to help prep it for the girl’s big summer jamboree.
That volunteer civilian and military personnel effort, as well as this year’s volunteer work to repair the cabin and more, is part of the base’s community outreach program.
“It’s our kuleana to be good neighbors, to connect with the community and care for the aina,” Marquez said. He also encouraged others to nominate a community service project for PTA consideration by calling 969-2401.
On Saturday, volunteer military and civilian PTA personnel, apprentices and journeymen with the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters and others gathered to finish repairing the cabin, one of several buildings at the campsite off Old Saddle Road in the Waikii Ranch area.
In addition to the repairs, which included replacing the eight-person cabin’s roof, the volunteers also rebuilt the stairs to the cabin and felled the tree from which the large limb fell to prevent future damage to the cabin. They even rendered the wood from the 36-inch diameter, 40-foot Cyprus pine into furniture for the scouts to sit on around camp’s fire pit on chilly nights.
“It’s good to be around good people,” said Melissa Parker, an apprentice carpenter, who joined 10 of her fellow Council of Carpenters members at the site Saturday.
The day was the culmination of more than a month’s worth of work work that got rolling in early March when PTA visited the site and determined the base’s volunteers could assist. The effort snowballed from there as word spread about the effort.
“Les Isemoto put the word out and everyone he mentioned it to said, ‘what can I do to help,’” said Michael Lum, of Bowers and Kubota Consulting, one of the businesses that got involved with the project.
Other businesses, including HPM, Custom Metal Roofing, Alutiiq General Contractors, Goodfellow Bros., Narito Sheetmetal Inc., Craige Moore Carpentry and Isemoto Contracting, also pitched in with materials, labor and equipment. The United Services Organization (USO) from PTA ensured morale remained high and all were well-fed and hydrated.
“It’s great to see everyone come together for the project,” said Mike Donnelly, community liaison at PTA. “It is a true community effort, and it’s fun, too.”
West Hawaii Today photographer Laura Ruminski contributed to this report.