Kaʻū News Briefs May 20, 2024

Mālama Nā Keiki Festival came to Pāhala Community Center on Saturday, with many opportunities for
families to seek help with health, housing, nutrition, medical care, keiki ID and more. Photos by Julia Neal

The County of Hawai'i's Emergency Rental Housing program.

HUI MALAMA OLA NA 'OIWI hosted its seventh annual Mālama Nā Keiki Festival at Pāhala Community Center on Saturday and announced it is co-sponsoring a Kaʻū Community Baby Shower and Health Fair on Saturday, June 22 at Kaʻū Community Rural Health Center's campus in Kaʻū.
    The festival last Saturday included keiki-friendly activities, a raffle for the keiki, a children's character in costume, a balloon artist, and face painting. Keiki were able to exercise, riding a stationary bicycle, the wheels also turning a blender preparing a fruit drink. There were many more interactive keiki programs and education for parents.
    Hui Mālama offers online and live exercise classes, Nutrition Courses, Healthy Hapai Classes, Transportation for Medical Purposes, Diabetes and Cancer Support Groups, Disease Prevention and Management Courses.

Hawai'i Children's Action Network

       Joining the Hui Mālama organization last Saturday were other non profits and agencies including Kaʻū Rural Health Community Association, which is advocating for a new nursing program in Kaʻū. 

    Boys & Girls Club reached out to the community, along with PARENTS, which provides education and counseling for keeping families healthy. The county Emergency Rental Assistance Program was explained for those in need of shelter. Hawai'i Children Action Network presented its programs to advocate for children by fighting for their safety, health, and education.

Keiki find about about Early Head Start.

Boys & Girls Club offers after school activities.

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A monk seal at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach where the Marine 
Mammal Center conducted a training for volunteers on Sunday.
Photo from Malama Pono Punalu'u

MARINE MAMMAL CENTER SENT CARE SPECIALISTS to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach on Sunday afternoon, following several documentations of monk seals there and along the Kaʻū Coast. The Marine Mammal Center crew provided a training session for Mālama Pono Punalu'u volunteers, with instructions and protocol for sighting monk seals in the water and responding to monk seals coming ashore.
    Mālama Pono Punalu'u reports "approximately six sightings of monk seals within the last year near the Punalu'u Beach shoreline alone, as well as other sightings at Whittington Beach, Green Sands Beach and other Kaʻū Coastline areas. Marine Mammal Center has partnered with Mālama Pono Punalu'u providing signage, printed materials and continued support for monk seals, which require a 50 foot perimeter when they are on the shore and that increases to 150 feet when there is a mother monk seal and pup."
    According to marinemammalcenter.org, "Marine Mammal Center is lead responder for Hawaiian monk seals on Hawai‘i Island and Maui, and we operate a hotline for reporting monk seal sightings. Every sighting reported provides valuable information to researchers, and our response teams are ready to respond if an animal needs emergency care.

    "The endangered Hawaiian monk seal is one of the rarest seal species in the world, and conservation efforts are critical to their survival. Through direct animal care, community outreach, education and response, our dedicated staff and volunteers in Hawai‘i are working to save a species.

    "On Hawai‘i Island, we operate the only hospital dedicated to Hawaiian monk seals, Ke Kai Ola. Our team of experts relies on the Center’s many years of experience in marine mammal medicine and health to treat monk seals so they can be released back to the wild."

Some of the volunteers who took training from Marine Mammal
 Center on Sunday. Photo from Malama Pono Punalu'u

    Mālama Pono Punalu'u issued a statement saying it is a "community based volunteer organization whose mission has been to provide a safe and harassment free space for basking Honu (Green Sea Turtles) while making efforts to preserve and
maintain the sandy beach area in its nature and pristine state to assist in Honu'ea nesting. Other missions include protecting the monk seals when they beach themselves in the Punalu'u area, watching swimmers and water activities after life-guards leave daily and overall safety and information for visitors to Punalu'u.
    "We actively continue to seek volunteers who are willing to donate their time between 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. one or more days per month. It is amazing way to get to enjoy Punalu'u for a few hours at a time, talking to visitors, seeing the beauty of the area while helping to protect the turtles and the beach."

    Contact Victoria Croft for more information at vjcroft@yahoo.com or (530) 306-1301‬. For more on Mālama Pono Punalu'u, visit https://www.malamaponopunaluu.org/. The Marine Mammal Center hotline for Hawai‘i Island is 808-987-0765. For more on Marine Mammal Center see https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/get-involved/volunteer/hawaii/hawaii-island.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar. See upcoming events, print edition and archive at kaunews.com. Support this news service with advertising at kaunews.com. 7,500 copies the mail and on stands.

Horseback riding tours are being offered at South Point, as posted on Big Island Recommendations and Reviews facebook.

Big Island Recommendations and Reviews 
shows horseback riding tours at South Point.

HORSEBACK RIDING ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH POINT AREA ARE BEING PROMOTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Big Island Recommendations and Reviews, with 45.2K members, posted photos in May showing people astride, along the Kaʻū Coast on Hawaiian Home Lands.

    Big Island Recommendations and Reviews is described on its facebook page: "This group is for sharing personal recommendations and reviews from the people in our community on the Big Island."

    One post from Alexis Irwin describes her horseback riding services and says, "We will be going to south point Again Tomorrow! Come and ride~ Pm me to reserve at time." She writes that one of the trail rides offered is 30 minutes to an hour. "We can also do 15 minutes for kids. We will work with you for what your group needs." One potential rider asked if two hours could be scheduled and Irwin answered yes. One ride was quoted as costing $125, before local and group discounts.

     Venus Gonsalves Henriques posted, "Are you licensed and have permits for riding on Hawaiian homelands?" Another asked whether the operation is insured.

    The facebook posts also show the offering of lessons and trail rides on an equestrian farm.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar. See upcoming events, print edition and archive at kaunews.com. Support this news service with advertising at kaunews.com. 7,500 copies the mail and on stands.