Supporting Our High School Scholars

Each year Hale Makua residents make lei out of yarn or fabric for the Hawaii Community Foundation. The Foundation helps many people on Maui and one way they do that is offering scholarships for college students. The lei made by our residents are given to scholarship recipients at a ceremony honoring their achievements.

In the photo Joyce Falconer winds yarn for a lei. The work that residents do every year making lei illustrates the Eden Alternative Principles 4 “An Elder-centered community creates opportunity to give as well as receive care. This is the antidote to helplessness.” and 6 “Meaningless activity corrodes the human spirit. The opportunity to do things that we find meaningful is essential to human health.”

Hunting for Fun

On Saturday March 23, North Neighborhood at Hale Makua Kahului held an Easter Egg Hunt. Residents, staff, family, and children gathered in the central courtyard of North Neighborhood to celebrate together. Residents were delighted to meet the children and help them search for bright plastic eggs. All the attendees enjoyed the beautiful weather and the chance to spend time with family and friends in such a beautiful setting.

In the photo, North Neighborhood Supervisor Zaira Katsuda, her husband, and two sons start the hunt for Easter Eggs.

The Easter Egg Hunt illustrates Eden Principle #2: “An Elder-centered community commits to creating a human habitat where life revolves around close and continuing contact with plants, animals, and children. It is these relationships that provide the young and old alike with a pathway to a life worth living.”

Residents Make Their Own Menu Choices

Resident Ron Irimata likes to eat and he knows exactly what foods he likes. Ron has an individualized menu, so every week he works with carepartner and Resident Relations Coordinator  Edna Hedani to plan his menu.

Edna assists Ron is recording his meal selections for the week. Ron likes designing his own menu because he can eat foods he enjoys and “you don’t have to just eat what they’re serving.” Edna adds that Nutrition Services likes helping residents with their menus because it cuts down on wasted food. Ron says that his favorite food at Hale Makua is “just about everything.”

This story illustrates Eden Principle #8: “An Elder-centered community honors its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of the Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.”

Residents Select Coffee Blend

Did you know that residents are served the “Hale Makua” blend of Maui Oma coffee? Several years ago, the Nutrition Services team gathered residents together and asked them to participate in a “taste test” to select the coffee that they would like to be served everyday. A variety of samples were shared with the residents and the coffee that they selected was named the “Hale Makua Blend”.

Many Hale Makua residents still drink that coffee blend everyday at breakfast, lunch, or during the social hour in the Aloha Café. Maui Oma roasts 85 pounds of coffee for Hale Makua every week and they do it just a short distance away at their warehouse on Alamaha Street in Kahului.

This is an example of Eden Alternative Principle 8: An Elder-centered community honors its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.