Page 4 - MidWeek Windward - July 21, 2021

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JULY 21, 2021
Kīhāpai Neighborhood Resident Takes A ‘Stand’ For Keiki
BY LIANNE BIDAL THOMPSON
“When I first moved onto this street, they had nothing but drugs,” she laments, add- ing that she had a disabled child at the time, and the con- dition of the area did not sit well with her.
Coming up with the idea of “Hugs not Drugs,” she got a table and some Kool-Aid. She got the neighborhood kids together and they sold the drinks for 35 cents a cup.
starts back up again. The kids have a schedule to fol- low (there are three shifts), and they get paid every day.
When Bernie Broad first moved into her home along Kihapai Place, she was bothered by what she saw around her.
“I taught these kids how to do business, and every day, when they were done, I would count the money out,” she explains.
“They learn about custom- er service, running a busi- ness, arithmetic and how to (make change),” Broad says.
“Every time I go outside and see the kids sitting out- side all day.”
The kids all understood that the money was to be spent on supplies — or field trips — for school.
“It’s only in the summer,” she explains, adding that if the weather’s nice enough, she’ll gather the kids during the holidays to sell treats. The funds from those sales are donated to charity.
When she inquired why the kids weren’t at school, they told her that they lacked funds for things like school trips or supplies.
That was 16 years ago. During that time, Broad’s own child died. However, Broad only became more focused on the well-being of the other keiki in the neigh- borhood, figuratively and literally turning lemons into lemonade. The treat stand continues today, and the kids now sell lemonade, limeade, mochi and other snacks.
She says that kids who’ve worked the stand in years past come back as customers.
“I thought to myself, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t see kids not go to school because they don’t have money for field trips,” she recalls.
Some of the keiki working — and benefiting from — the lemonade and snack stand this summer include (from left) Kuena Hoffmeister, Nelly Keo-Broad, Leiani Dudoit-Stone, Kai Degre, John Fotu, Leyla Keo-Broad, Kala’i Driggers and Keira Dias. The stand is located at Kīhāpai Street and Kīhāpai Place, and the kids work under the guidance of Bernie Broad who started helping them make money over the summer for school supplies 16 years ago. ANTHONY CONSILLIO PHOTO
Now, the street that she once described as “dirty,” is cleaned up (Broad said she and her husband did an actual cleanup of the area). Addi- tionally, some neighbors con- tribute, bringing lemons and other supplies for the stand.
She had an epiphany.
week after school ends, the stand goes up on Kīhāpai
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“I’m still giving back,” she says.
“I’m fighting this war and I cannot have kids suf- fering; it breaks my heart to see them (not able to go to
school).”
Every summer, that first
Street and Kīhāpai Place and is open from 11 a.m.= Mon- days-Fridays through the end of summer, when school
“We don’t have drugs on the street anymore,” Broad says emphatically.
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