Earth/Sky/Mauka/Makai

Volunteers picked up trash at Mother Waldron Park at last year’s Kakaako Community Cleanup
THE SHIDLER GROUP PHOTOS

KEEPING KAKAAKO CLEAN

In honor of next week’s Earth Day, local residents and businesses are teaming up to tidy up the Kakaako area for the fourth annual Kakaako Community Cleanup from 8 to 11 a.m. April 18. It starts at Mother Waldron Park and ends at Waterfront Plaza.

Run by real estate investment firm The Shidler Group, in partnership with the Kakaako Improvement Association, Building Owners and Managers Association Hawaii, and TAG, the cleanup launched as Kakaako was just beginning to take shape as a budding center for residences, restaurants and entertainment.

“It was just very natural to want to do a cleanup in the Kakaako area, knowing that that would be the next hot area,” explains The Shidler Group’s Steven Sullivan, who organizes the cleanup alongside Ronald Lockwood.

“(The Shidler Group) resides in the area, and I live nearby,” Sullivan says. “And with all of the new action and new residents moving in and the businesses that already are existing, it is just a great opportunity to do a community coalition of different entities.”

The cleanup targets a few blocks between Mother Waldron Park and Waterfront Plaza, where volunteers will pick up trash, dispose of green waste and scrub away graffiti (but they will be careful not to disturb artwork in the area). According to Sullivan, trash they typically find in the area includes food wrappers, diapers, and occasional drug paraphernalia.

“We also will pick up all the green waste and regular waste that is in the gutters, so that it doesn’t end up in the storm drains,” Sullivan adds. “That is probably one of the most important parts, so it doesn’t block the drain or get into the ocean.”

Sullivan, who also is a member of Kakaako Improvement Association, has coordinated cleanups in other parts of the island. Helping to maintain a healthy environment, he feels, is something of a no-brainer: “It’s important to improve the environment. We should be stewards of our land and return it in better condition than we have received it.”

While he acknowledges that Kakaako Community Cleanup may be helpful, he hopes that it’s just a small part of what becomes a larger effort. Ultimately, he sees the event as a tool to cultivate an expansive network of people who want to keep Kakaako clean.

“(Trash) is an ongoing (problem),” Sullivan says. “Somebody needs to keep getting out there and cleaning up.

“The fact that we are out there … I think it builds awareness for other people to want to help as well,” he adds. “It’s a continuous evolution of helpers who will constantly do it year-round, versus just once a year, and this is a way that we can kind of promote that.”

All volunteers will be treated to food, refreshments and validated parking. For more information and to volunteer, contact Sullivan at 532-4751 or email ssullivan@shidler.com.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

During Kakaako Community Cleanup, Building Owners and Managers Association Hawaii also will be collecting hygiene products to donate to Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center’s Homeless Outreach program.

Items requested include soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush, combs, razors, lotion, sun-screen and pads/tampons.

Goods will be collected from 8 to 11 a.m. April 18 at Mother Waldron Park. All donated items will go toward homeless families living along the Leeward Coast.

For details about the drive, email eric@armstrongbuildingmaintenance.com.

While you’re at it, you also can drop off nonperishable food items or a monetary donation for Hawaii Foodbank at Waterfront Plaza from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day.

There also will be live entertainment, a dunking booth and more during the drive.