Spring 2009 - Issue 5

The Silversword: Home > Chaminade Life > Chaminade Gives Back

Chaminade Gives Back

Kelly Korras, Staff Reporter

On Sept. 11, more than 200 students, 11 faculty members and 14 peer mentors tackled nine community service projects around the island as apart of CUH 100 classes.

The projects included:
* Ulupo Heiau and Halawa Valley Heiau, where students learnt the traditional use of land and water and how to take care of it
* The Hata Foundation Bake for Hunger Bake Sale, where students sold baked goods to raise money for less fortunate families immediate needs
* Palolo Chinese Home, where they cleaned and painted this Adult Residential Care Home
* Palolo Homes and Plantation, where they cleaned up the stream and painted the homes
* Institute for Human Services, where they assisted in cleaning and meal preparation for the homeless,
* Palolo Stream Clean-up, where they cleaned up the stream and removed graffiti
* Palolo Elementary School, where they gardened and cleaned up trash around the campus
* CUH Bus Stop Restoration, where they cleaned and painted the bus stop by Chaminade's campus.

These communities are in dire need of volunteers and people who are willing to lend a helping hand. “Some of the sites are always in need of volunteers as they do not have permanent staff and/or do not have the funding to have help on a regular basis,” said Allison Jerome, the Associate Dean of Students, “Our contributions during these projects have an ongoing effect as many of these sites are places that are used and visited by other people. The site supervisors recognize and appreciate the contributions of the Chaminade community as a whole and know that CUH is a valued community partner. I also believe that valuable connections can be made during these projects, ones that can potentially lead to greater things for our students and the sites overall.”

Not only do the communities benefit but it gives the students involved a way to give back to their community and feel like they are doing something worthy. “It gives students experience working with the land, based on Native Hawaiian cultural practices,” said Candice Sakuda, Director of Service Learning at Chaminade, “experience working side by side with community members from diverse backgrounds, experience working with their classmates toward common goal of helping others, a sense of fulfillment, and exercise.”

Chaminade also benefits by getting out there and showing the community and the state a service model to follow.  The teachers and peer mentors involved also get a positive experience out of helping the community and seeing students do something good. 

“As the coordinator for the CUH 100 course, I believe it is important to show students how they can make have a positive impact upon our community by doing something small,” said Jerome, “I know everyone has to wake up early on a Saturday morning to participate, but those few hours really do make a huge difference in the communities we work with. I appreciate that our students have an opportunity to meet and work with other students they may not know, connect with faculty and staff outside of the classroom, and have the chance to repressent Chaminade University in a very positive way.”

Chaminade is involved in a variety of service projects.  Ways to get involved are going to visit campus ministry who organizes a lot of projects like these or, you can visit www.chmainde.edu/service_learning/projects.php to find a project that suits your talents and desire to help.