A Chance To ‘Make A Difference’

What better way to spend this Saturday morning (Oct. 26) than by volunteering for a community project? Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate Park will celebrate National Make a Difference Day at Lydgate Beach Park and are asking volunteers to help beautify and maintain the Eastside area. Work will include beach grooming and applying nontoxic linseed oil sealer to Kamalani Kai Bridge. Registration is at 7:30 a.m. at the main pavilion. Volunteers should wear closed-toe shoes or boots, as well as sun protection, and bring their own water bottle. Lunch is included. Visit kamalani.org or call Tommy Noyes at 639-1018 for more information …

Another organization doing great things for the community is Healing Horses Kauai. The nonprofit assists in improving the mental, physical, social and emotional well-being of keiki and people with disabilities through equine therapy activities. The group is creating a new riding facility on 15 acres of land on the Wailua side of Kapaa Bypass Road. Join Wailua-Kapaa Neighborhood Association Saturday (Oct. 26) at 2 p.m. at Kapaa Library to hear HHK’s executive director, Heather Phelps, speak more about the organization. Visit healinghorseskauai.com or call Sid Jackson, W-KNA secretary, at 821-2837 for more information …

The list of do-gooders doesn’t end there. Joseph Fawole, Grand Hyatt Kauai‘s director of rooms, recently read The Day the Crayons Quit to 42 preschoolers at Koloa Early School. The event was part of the hotel’s annual program with the school, which helps increase awareness of the importance of reading at an early age. Every year a new story is selected and is read to the children by a representative of the resort. After the story, children are greeted by costumed characters from the narrative and are each given a copy of the book to take home.

“Wow, that was fun. The kids were so good and they loved the story,” says Fawole, who is excited to participate again next year …

Singer Bernie Stopak, a retired professor of neuro-surgery originally from Washington, D.C., wrote an album titled Operation Love (pun intended) with jazz pianist Stef Scaggiari. The album is a collection of 22 love songs that reflect on his personal journeys through life. Since releasing Operation Love at cdbaby.com, Stopak has been performing at various venues around the island including St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Lihue. He also is currently working on the next phase of his project, which includes creating music videos for his songs that he will release as a video/web series. Visit gofundme.com/operationlove for more information …

Attorney Teresa Tico has produced a new PBS documentary called Fishing Pono: Living in Harmony with the Sea. The film documents the lives of Hawaiians on Molokai who use traditional conservation methods to restore fisheries on their native land. The story features lifelong fisherman Kelson “Mac” Poepoe as well as fishermen from Haena, who are working toward establishing a community-based subsistence fishing district. The film relays how unsustainable current exploitation of Pacific fisheries is and how, if nothing is done to reverse the situation, there will be nothing left for future generations. The film will be screened Friday (Oct. 25) at 5:15 p.m. at Waimea Theater. Call Hawaii International Film Festival at (808) 792-1577 or email info@hiff.org for more information …