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Roxy Kiessling

Aloha everyone! As my year comes to an end, I want to thank you for your participation and support during my term. It has truly been an honor to serve, and I am thankful that Rotary has given me the opportunity to be involved in my local and international community.

I look forward to seeing you all at the District Conference on May 20-22nd.

HUGS Memorial Garden Work Day

For our last project of the Rotary year, we teamed up with the Rotary Club of Diamond Head Kaimuki and Men's Leadership of Hawaii to help HUGS build a water reservoir lean-to at Sunset Ranch near their Koa Tree Memorial Garden. The Memorial Garden is a special place for families to honor their children who have passed away.

Men's Leadership of Hawaii built the lean-to with a gutter that feeds into a water storage tank, which will collect water when it rains. We then climbed up ladders and painted the structure to help protect it from the elements. Moving forward, it will be much easier to water the koa trees in the garden!

Jamie Apuna did an amazing job coordinating this project and the delicious lunch that followed our work day.

Kahauiki Village Landscaping

We joined the Rotary Clubs of Hickam Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Sunrise for a multi-club project at Kahauiki on Saturday, May 14th. Together we planted trees and shrubs in the area around the new Teen Center at Kahauiki. Joshua McDonough did most of the hard work and digging!

This completed the District 5000’s support of the Kahauiki Village of four years for a place where families will bond with their community and embrace the values of “generosity, trust, dignity, and honor”.

Sake Sushi 2022

We are happy to announce our annual Sake Sushi FUN-Raiser that took place on Friday, April 29th was a huge success! Everyone enjoyed a night full of sake sampling, delicious food, entertainment and great company. All the proceeds raised will benefit projects in our local community and scholarships sponsored by the Rotary Club of East Honolulu. Thank you to everyone who came out to support!

Special shout out to Jamie Apuna (ticket sales chair), Cheryl Holdcroft (silent auction chair and decorations), Lauren Okinishi (sake sampling coordinator), Ashli Sasano (treasurer and 50/50 ticket sales), Laura Steelquist (all around busy bee), John Strandberg and Bob Yee (emcees of the night).

Rotarians at Work Day

On Saturday, April 23rd, our club participated in "Rotarians at Work Day". Every year, Rotarians all across the world engage in hands-on service projects that help their local communities. Our project was a part of the statewide cleanup for District 5000's Ridge to Reef Rotary Days of Service. We gathered at Kaimuki District Park to clean up trash in the area and maintain a healthy neighborhood wellness.

Mahalo to our community service director, John Strandberg, who coordinated this project and brought all the cleaning supplies.

Genki Ball Project

We teamed up with the Genki Ala Wai Project and other Rotary clubs in District 5000 for a two-part project! On day one of the project, we got our hands dirty making Genki Balls. They were made of a mixture of clay soil, rice bran, molasses, water and EM•1 solution (Effective Microorganisms). After dehydrating the Genki balls for almost a month, we then threw them into the Ala Wai Canal to work their magic and remove sludge.

Palolo Elementary School Christmas Project

On Thursday, December 16th, we gathered for our last project of the year to decorate and fill bags with toys and treats for the students of Palolo Elementary School. Our district grant funds were used to make sure every student received a fun surprise this holiday season.

The following day we had the special opportunity to hand-deliver the Christmas bags to the students. They were overjoyed and filled with holiday cheer when receiving their gifts.

Community Food Distribution

On Saturday, November 20th, we had a successful food distribution project in partnership with the Rotary Club of Ala Moana and Aloha Harvest. Our clubs packaged and delivered over 200 bags to the families and staff of Lunalilo Elementary School.

Mahalo to Our Healthcare Heroes

Our club, along with fellow Rotary clubs throughout the District, participated in a project to show appreciation to our healthcare heroes. We partnered with the Rotary Club of Ala Moana and the Eco Rotary Club of Kaka'ako to write thank you notes and stuff treat bags with snacks. After two days of preparation and packaging, our clubs delivered the thank you bags to Kuakini Hospital and Urgent Care Kaka'ako. Hospital administrators then distributed the treats to their 850+ healthcare workers and staff.

Tree Care and Planting with HUGS

On Saturday, October 16th RCEH teamed up with Men's Leadership Hawaii and Ukulele Hale to help prepare the Koa Tree Memorial Garden for HUGS. The Memorial Garden is a special place for families to honor their children who have passed away. We planted, fertilized and watered koa trees to maintain the garden as a peaceful haven for the families.

Beach Cleanup with Seed.World

It was a beautiful day at Waimanalo Beach Park until we looked more closely at the sand and saw countless tiny pieces of plastic. Using screens and a special Buoyancy Separation Device from our partner for this project, Seed.World, we sifted and sifted until we separated out a plethora of plastic in every shape, size and color you could imagine.

We saw firsthand the impact micro-plastic pollution has on our island and why we need to take action. Helping with this cleanup project educated us on how much harm plastics are causing all of our beaches and oceans, and we now hope to raise awareness about this problem in other concerned individuals.