Hooo….Rice Fest is this Sunday already. No can believe! Another year’s worth of blood, sweat and tears finally coming to fruition. I hope you guys can make it down this Sunday, September 1st from 12pm-5pm at Ward Centers. Get CHOKE activities, grinds, & entertainment (see list below)! Should be fun!
This week’s photos are (of course) Rice Fest inspired. In fact, they are pictures from three of our 30+ participating vendors this year. Go here for some hints: http://www.ricefest.com/vendor/vendor-info. Go get um!
Last Week‘s Winners:
* Kailua District Park (Stickit)
* Oceanic Time Warner Cable – Mililani (Takeshi)
* Hawaii Kai (M)
* Rice Fest!
Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 1st, 2013 and come celebrate Hawaii’s beloved grain at the 4th Annual Rice Festival. Held at Ward Centers from 12pm to 5pm, this event has a full day of food and fun activities lined up including:
* VH07V Spotted!
This week’s “SPOTTED!” is a music video of the ukulele group Heart & Soul covering Jake Shimabukuro’s song Serano. Heart & Soul is Jody Kamisato, Tj Mayeshiro and Micah Ganiron. Jody is the owner and lead instructor at Ukulele Hale, where Tj and Micah were schooled. You can catch them and other Ukulele Hale students at this year’s Rice Fest as well!
Heart & Soul – Serano
* New Design: “???”
Working on an all-new mystery design, that I don’t want to mention yet because somebody else might steal the idea. Haha. Design is actually pretty basic, but the message is cool (IMO). Hopefully others will feel the same way. 🙂 More TBA soon!
* Order Online!
Get all of the latest VH07V gear at:
* VH07V at Honolulu Night Market next Saturday, August 17th!
VH07V will be at this Saturday night’s Honolulu Night Market in Kakaako! It will be one of the last two pop-up shows I’ll be doing this year so come on down and pick up the latest in VH07V swag!
* Rice Fest!
Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 1st, 2013 and come celebrate Hawaii’s beloved grain at the 4th Annual Rice Festival. Held at Ward Centers from 12pm to 5pm, this event has a full day of food and fun activities lined up including:
– Rice focused food & craft vendors (including VH07V 🙂 )
– Cooking demos with Chef Mavro’s Chef George Mavrothalassitis & Pastry Chef Elizabeth Dippong, and OC16’s “Cutty” Cutler & KITV’s Yunji de Nies
– Entertainment by Kapena, Jody Kamisato & Uke’s Rising Stars, EMKE, and Honoka & Azita
– Appearances by Tiny Tadani from TinyTV & Scott, Mayumi & Skyler from Ultimate Japan!
– the 4th Annual SPAM ® Musubi Eating Contest, and
– an attempt to break the Guinness World Record™ for the World’s Largest SPAM Musubi
* Calling All Referees! If you are a referee or have always wanted to be one, check out the note below from my friend Alton who has been chosen to run the organization: “The Hawaii State Basketball Officials Association (HSBOA) will be having a meeting next Monday August 19 @ 6pm at Salt Lake District Park. It’s open to new first year officials and transfer officials. Well can teach people that don’t no how or are interested in trying. For more information, please contact Alton Mamiya (808) 551-0916 or via email at amamiya@hawaii.rr.com. Thanks!”
* New Design: “Jah”
Still waiting for these to come in, but I am counting on getting them in on time for VH07V‘s appearance at this week Saturday night’s Honolulu Night Market event. Crossing my fingers!
Since we’re less than a month away, I figgah I’d commence the world “famous” (only in my mind) Rice Fest countdown. This week is all food related, actually rice related for that matter. Good luck!
Last Week‘s Winners:
* P.F. Chang’s (pink lady)
* Ala Moana Beach (kyleepuu)
* Aala Park (Surfdad)
* VH07V at Honolulu Night Market next Saturday, August 17th!
VH07V will be at next Saturday night’s Honolulu Night Market in Kakaako! It will be one of the last two pop-up shows I’ll be doing this year so come on down and pick up the latest in VH07V swag!
* Rice Fest!
Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 1st, 2013 and come celebrate Hawaii’s beloved grain at the 4th Annual Rice Festival. Held at Ward Centers from 12pm to 5pm, this event has a full day of food and fun activities lined up including:
– Rice focused food & craft vendors (including VH07V 🙂 )
– Cooking demos with Chef Mavro’s Chef George Mavrothalassitis & Pastry Chef Elizabeth Dippong, and OC16’s “Cutty” Cutler & KITV’s Yunji de Nies
– Entertainment by Kapena, Jody Kamisato & Uke’s Rising Stars, and EMKE
– the 4th Annual SPAM ® Musubi Eating Contest, and
– an attempt to break the Guinness World Record™ for the World’s Largest SPAM Musubi
* Calling All Referees! If you are a referee or have always wanted to be one, check out the note below from my friend Alton who has been chosen to run the organization: “The Hawaii State Basketball Officials Association (HSBOA) will be having a meeting on Monday August 19 @ 6pm at Salt Lake District Park. It’s open to new first year officials and transfer officials. Well can teach people that don’t no how or are interested in trying. For more information, please contact Alton Mamiya (808) 551-0916 or via email at amamiya@hawaii.rr.com. Thanks!”
* VH07V Spotted!
This week’s “SPOTTED!” shot is one with popular recording artist Anuhea! It’s the Yamada boys showing some VH07V with Anuhea after her show at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe during “The Love & Roots Tour” last June.
* New Design: “Jah”
Based on your votes, here are the two final colors for the new “Jah” design: Charcoal and Dark Chocolate Brown. I’m hoping to get these in before VH07V‘s appearance at Honolulu Night Market next Saturday. Crossing our fingers!
When I think of senior citizens, I think of my dear obaachan in Japan. And although she lives on her own, she is never alone. Between her caretakers and her family and friends, she always has somebody to talk to and share a meal with.
For some seniors right here in Hawaii, they are not as fortunate. Many don’t have family or friends to visit and sometimes, they can’t even afford to eat. When I think about a senior citizen missing a meal, it breaks my heart because all I can I think about is what it might be like if my obaachan was in this horrible situation.
Enter Lanakila Pacific and their Meals on Wheels program. What started as a lunch wagon serving hot meals to seniors in need at A`ala Park in the 70’s, the Meals on Wheels program has expanded, serving 250,000 meals each year on over 90 different routes. They also have 18 Kupuna Wellness Centers around Oahu where able bodied seniors can gather, socialize, exercise, etc., in addition to getting their hot meal.
Lanakila Pacific sign
Now in its 40th year, Lanakakila Meals on Wheels is looking more than ever to fill the void of unmet seniors in need of home delivered meals, which the City & County of Honolulu’s Elderly Affairs Division 4-year plan (2007-2011) estimates at 8,587!
I recently sat down with Lanakila Pacific’s Volunteer and Resource Development Coordinator Randi Jeung to talk more about their Meals on Wheels program.
Interview with Randi Jeung
Edward Sugimoto) For those who don’t know, describe what Lanakila Pacific does as an organization, and what your role is here.
Randi Jeung) Lanakila Pacific is a local non-profit organization. This is our 72nd year. We offer programs and services for adults with cognitive, physical, social or age related challenges, and we help them build their independence and help them improve the quality of their lives.
Edward Sugimoto) And what do you do here?
Randi Jeung) I’m on the marketing team, so all the different marketing initiatives, I help with that, but my main role is I’m the volunteer coordinator so I go out to talk to people about volunteer opportunities here and how to get involved.
Edward Sugimoto) One of those programs is Meals on Wheels (and that’s how we know Rick Nakama and other volunteers as well), what is that program exactly?
Randi Jeung) Yeah, we’ve had a lot of social media people come and help us at different events and at different times so we’re very thankful for that. Lanakila Meals on Wheels is probably our best known program. Lanakila Pacific is probably best known for its Meals on Wheels program. It’s Hawaii’s largest and only island-wide meal service for seniors, but it’s so much more than just a meal program. Our volunteers are awesome volunteers. (They) provide them with connections to other local services if they see that the senior has a need or something, they’ll come and let us know and we’ll refer them to other services and they’re just there as a friend because for a lot of our seniors, that volunteer that comes to see them that one time a week sometimes is the only person that they’ll see. Sad situation but it’s the reality and our volunteers are helping us with that.
Edward Sugimoto) Statistically, do you know about how many seniors you help (through Meals on Wheels)?
Randi Jeung) Yes. So as of last week (week of July 10), the count was, each week, we help approximately 2,000 seniors throughout the island of Oahu and that number is only going to get bigger because we’re seeing it happening. Our route sizes have grown, they’ve doubled in size so now what we’re doing is we’re splitting our routes so that it’s a little bit easier on our volunteers when they go out to deliver, but yeah, that number is gonna grow real quick.
Edward Sugimoto) Do you have an interesting or heart-warming story you can share about one of your Meals on Wheels recipients?
Randi Jeung) There are so many stories that come out and you know, I want to save that for volunteers when they come, they’ll have their own stories, but for us, we have a senior that, you know, she lives on her own. She actually lives in a garage and when you go in to see her, and deliver the meals to her, you can see like the garage, you know how the garage door like there’s a space on the top and the bottom, cause it’s not meant to be lived in, it’s just for storage for cars. And so she lives in the garage and she has like all kinds of stuff in the garage… She’s really funny. You would feel bad for her when you see her, she’s just the liveliest little lady and she’s always joking around. Sometimes we have these two younger gentlemen that go to deliver meals to her and she knows that they’re single, so she’ll have like either her niece or her granddaughters that are there, waiting. And you know, she wants to introduce them, so she wants to be a matchmaker. So very good humored and every time we go she’s just so grateful and she just wants to hang onto you and talk story with you, probably for hours if she could.
Edward Sugimoto) So if someone was interested in volunteering for Meals on Wheels, how do they go about doing that?
Randi Jeung) Contact us, just give us a call. Our phone number is (808) 531-0555 or just check out our web site. The URL is www.lanakilapacific.org.
Edward Sugimoto) And for a person in need, is that the same contact information?
Randi Jeung) Same contact information. That phone number is our main line and through that number you can be connected to Meals on Wheels, our TLC program, Workforce Resource program, and even our Kitchen program. So yeah, just call us, visit our web site, with any questions. For seniors coming onto the Meals on Wheels program, the only real requirement that we have is that you’re 60 years of age and above and after that, everybody gets an individual assessment.
Edward Sugimoto) You mentioned the Kitchen. You guys do catering and what other kind of stuff?
Randi Jeung) Yes we do! Lanakila Kitchen is one of our social enterprises, which basically means a small business that’s run out of the non-profit organization, and Lanakila Kitchen is our catering social enterprise so we do catering events anywhere from small business meetings with like 3-5 people, all the way to huge events like keiki’s first birthday or tailgating if you need food for that, or weddings or whatever. We can find a way to get you some really good food.
Edward Sugimoto) Yeah we actually called you guys for a couple of occasions for work at Oceanic and the food was really good!
Randi Jeung) You know I think I saw that. It was on a blog where you guys took pictures of the catering line. Just by doing like the Google search, yeah, I’ve seen it. Thank you very much!
Edward Sugimoto) *laughs* No problem. No problem.
Edward Sugimoto) So in a couple of months Rice Fest is happening and you guys are partners with Rice Fest…
Randi Jeung) Yes!
Edward Sugimoto) … Talk a little bit about that and maybe what you’re going to have at the booth.
Randi Jeung) It’s really exciting! Rice Fest, it launched last year and it was a lot of fun. We had it at Aloha Tower at the Waterfront and it drew a lot of people and there was a musubi eating contest and all sorts of fun stuff. This year is the second year and it’s going to be at Ala Moana (Magic Island) this year and we’re very very thankful that Rice Fest has selected Lanakila Meals on Wheels as its beneficiary, and so they are putting a call out to all the people who are coming, that are going to attend the event to bring donations of brown rice and that helps us tremendously. That helps cut down some of our costs so that we can provide more meals for more seniors. We only use brown rice in our meals because it’s healthier and that’s something that we strive in, in Meals on Wheels as well as Lanakila Kitchen. So everybody’s gonna bring donations of brown rice. Last year, we got a huge amount, and so hopefully we’re hoping for the same thing or maybe even better for this year. We’re going to have a booth there, we’re going to have a table there, and we’ll have more information about how to get involved and if you know anybody that might need our services, whether it be Meals on Wheels, or TLC or Workforce Resources, then we’ll have all that information for you there and we’re actually trying to plan a fun little game that people can participate in this year so we’ll have something ready for everybody who stops by our table.
Randi Jeung) Thank you very much. Bye! Come to Rice Fest! September 11th, Ala Moana Park. *waves*
Randi Jeung of Lanakila Pacific
The Lanakila Meals on Wheels program relies heavily on a large group of selfless volunteers to help deliver their meals to the hungry seniors. Since my friend Rick Nakama just so happens to be one of them, I decided to tag along with him several times to get a first hand view of what a volunteer would go through on any given day.
The first thing we did was check in to Lanakila Pacific’s home base at 1809 Bachelot Street (there are also several satellite pick up locations).
Rick Nakama (@RickNakama) and Mark Tam (@marktrc) checking in for their route
They give you a couple of bright orange cooler bags to fill your meals with…
Lanakila Meals on Wheels cooler bags
… and then you proceed to fill it with your meals of the day.
Rick getting help from Randi Jeung to fill his bag.
Then you load up your car…
Bags from Lanakila Meals on Wheels loaded up
… check out your list of stops…
Rick’s Nuuanu route (names blacked out for privacy)
… and you’re off!
Each location is different, which makes it somewhat of an adventure. Parking, call boxes, locations… Rick has it down to a science. Sometimes although two addresses on his list are on the very same street, he will hit them at separate times simply because “it’s not the most productive path.”
So when we get to an address, we unload the specified number of meals (according to our list)…
Rick unloading two meals for this particular stop
… and deliver it to the appropriate home/apartment.
Rick looking up the apartment to get buzzed into the building
The entire route doesn’t take more than an hour or two. In addition to the reward of seeing the many smiles on the faces of the seniors in need, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve prevented a senior from going hungry, at least for another day.
The views aren’t so bad either
After our route, I was able to ask Rick a few questions about why he chooses to volunteer for Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
Interview with Rick Nakama
Edward Sugimoto) Please introduce yourself.
Rick Nakama) I am Rick Nakama, @RickNakama on Twitter.
Edward Sugimoto) How did you hear about the Lanakila Meals on Wheels program?
Rick Nakama) I actually heard about it by attending one of @Melissa808‘s (Melissa Chang) and @ParkRat‘s (Russ Sumida) tweetups for @HawaiiIRL. We had a little tweetup here where a few of us attended, learned what the volunteers do, and got a tour of the facilities at Lanakila Pacific.
Edward Sugimoto) So after that, you were inspired to volunteer yourself?
Rick Nakama) Yeah, I was actually interested in doing this for a while, but it just seemed a little bit complicated to get involved, and then after attending that tweetup, I followed up later and then I realized it’s not really that complicated and I was able to just do this once a week. So I do it on Monday, I do the route on Monday and it takes me about an hour to an hour and a half at the most with someone else helping me.
Edward Sugimoto) How long have you been doing it?
Rick Nakama) I’ve been doing it since about October of last year (2010).
Edward Sugimoto) And you’re liking it so far?
Rick Nakama) Yeah.
Edward Sugimoto) OK, thank you.
Rick Nakama) Alright.
This experience had such an impact on me that I am now on the waiting list for a Meals on Wheels route in my own neighborhood. I don’t want somebody else’s obaachan going hungry after all…
At precisely 6pm, guests at each participating restaurant got to chow down on some mean off-the-menu specials in the name of charity. Us social media heads even got to upload our photos directly to Lanakila Pacific’s flickr stream and hashtag our tweets using the uber-trending #GoodTable.
Here are the sights – from our perspective – last night at SOUL…
The centerpiece accent from Lanakila Pacific (and Kelli hiding)
Rick and I excited to eat at our Good Table (Photo Credit: Rick Nakama)
(notice Rick showcasing the IntelliGo for us at Oceanic? 8) )
A plantain dish came out first
Kukui Sausage Chorizo and North Shore Farms Black Bean Nachos with Local Sweet Corn & Asiago Cream
Chef/Owner Sean Preister showed us some of the beans he used in our dishes
Chef Mack Maryland Crab Cake with Manoa Pomelo
Haricot Verts Salad with Naked Cow Dairy Feta and Citronette
Group shot (wifey, me, Kelli & Rick)
Seared Olomana farms Tilapia with Jeanne Vana Heirloom Beans & Sweet Potato Hash with Sofrito & Kukui Spicy Portuguese Sausage
Side note: Rick is not much of a cooked fish fan, but this dish was a winnah for him. See how much so below…
Rick is all smiles enjoying his Tilapia
Pork Tenderloin with Lomi Lomi Sweet local Tomatoes, Manchego-Serrano “Mac-n-Cheese” Orzo and Waialua Braised Greens
Kelli and Rick with their Pork Tenderloin (Photo Credit: Kelli Nakama)
Wifey and I with with our Pork Tenderloin (Photo Credit: Rick Nakama)
Dessert: Panna Cotta with Local Sunrise Papaya and Honey (Photo Credit: Rick Nakama)
Kelli enjoying her Panna Cotta
Rick (@RickNakama), Chef Sean Priester (@pacificsoul) and me (@worldwideed)
A big mahalo to Rick and Kelli Nakama for letting us join you for such a scrumptious, and unforgettable dinner. A hearty thank you to Chef Sean Priester (and the SOUL Restaurant staffers) for working overtime, cooking up a storm for us. Thank you also to all of the other participating restaurants and tireless volunteers for helping to put on this wonderful event. Lastly, big ups to Lanakila Pacific and their Meals on Wheels and The Good Table programs. It’s selfless giving from organizations like you who make this world a better place for those in need. Mahalo!
I know, I know, I’ve been pimpin’ this event out for the last month or so, and you’re probably tired of hearing about it, but for those who haven’t heard about it yet (or for those who ignored my last uku million or so notices), I figgah one last push wouldn’t hurt right? Hehe!
Anyway, rather than doing something standard like simply asking you to come and support a brutha and check it out, I thought that giving you the details of the event (with photos!) might be an easier sell. LOL! So without further ado… Here ya go!
12:00pm – Rice Fest (at the Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace) starts, hosted by 102.7 Da Bomb’s Bruddah Bryan
3:00pm-4:00pm – “Riceipe” Cooking Competition – Professional Division (including Don Ho’s Island Grill’s Robert Denis, Kauai Grill’s Colin Hazama, Tokkuri-Tei’s Hideaki “Santa” Miyoshi, RumFire’s Matthew Naula, and HMS Host’s Kendall Uyehara).
All Day (12pm-8pm)
* Live Tweetup/Scavenger Hunt – Compete in this Tweetup/Scavenger Hunt for a chance to win great prizes!
* Rice Passport Game – Complete the Rice Fest Passport for your chance to Win a trip to Vegas!
* Rice Education Booth – Learn all about Rice in our educational booth
* Rice Donation Center – Donate your rice to Lanakila Pacific’s Meals on Wheels program and
* The Keiki Zone – coloring contest hosted by members of the 58th Cherry Blossom Festival Court from 12pm-4pm, balloons and fun from Bubbles Duh Clown, and games from the Mobile Gamer Guys!
World Wide Ed 