Revitalize Puna Community Preparedness & Resilience

By Raydiance Joy Grace

July 12 was the 12th activation of the Revitalize Puna series of events held at the Billy Kenoi Park Gym – Pahoa. This community outreach and engagement began in 2021, with the goal of bringing people together regularly to share information and perspectives, build relationships, and increase trust and collaboration. The 2025 event focused on community preparedness and resilience amidst natural disasters and emergencies. It was co-hosted by Council District 4, Civil Defense Agency, and the Kilauea Disaster Recovery Division, with support from the County of Hawaii. A steady flowing crowd of participants from Puna came to hear the different speakers from several organizations, including: Civil Defense Agency, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the National Weather Service, 

 The Hawai’i Wildfire Management Organizations, Vibrant Hawaii’i, and The Food Basket.

On the sidewalk outside the gym, I was greeted by friendly leaders of the Food Basket Programs, Lisa and Michael, giving away a large box of local farm produce, including pineapple, tomatoes, cabbage, green onions, lettuce, and other foods to attendees. Everyone who approached the table received a huge box of food. The Food Basket is a non-profit organization that works to provide Hawai’i island residents access to the type of food assistance they need through traditional intermediaries, like food pantries and congregate meal sites, as well as supplemental food programs. They also have a weekly program called ‘Da Box’ which delivers a large bag of local farm fresh produce to the different neighborhoods in Puna. More info at : https://www.hawaiifoodbasket.org/da-box

Another noteworthy program is called ‘Da Bux,’ which is a statewide discount program allowing SNAP users to double the value for local fruits and vegetables at participating locations, more info at https://dabux.org/.

When I first walked into the gym, I was met by another smiling volunteer passing out the ‘Revitalize’ passports, a roadmap to the day’s activities with instructions on how to collect three stamps to receive a free meal voucher from one of the three food trucks there. She patiently answered my questions and pointed out the direction I wanted to go in to find the Civil Defense Booth, as there were 43 booths of different agencies. The agencies all shared the ‘Revitalization of Puna’ as their main goal in common, ranging from the Department of Environmental Management to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. While writing this article, the first warning on my cell phone came on: Tsunami Warning! We are vividly reminded of the importance of disaster emergency preparedness: “BE READY. BE SAFE. BE INFORMED!” Civil Defense Motto.

After talking to Adam Weintraub of Civil Defense, I was convinced that the best information out there is a booklet called Project 360, Ohana Emergency Plan, that gives you all the information that you need on what to do in case of a disaster in your neighborhood. It includes everything from a family contact information page to what family documents to bring, food supplies, pet go-bag, etc. You can get your copy by accessing their website, where you can view or print: www.hawaiicounty.gov. You can also sign up for email alerts when you search for alerts. This service will send you emergency alerts about anything that is going on in Hawaii to stay informed about for disaster preparedness. For general information:

Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency 808 935-0031

Looking around the gym, I was immediately struck by the abundance of different plant, fruit, and flower keikis offered for free to the participants. A strikingly big red pepper plant, coleus flower, marigold flower, arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, and lettuce plants were just some of the varieties available to take home.

Susie Osborne’s was one of the many plant giveaway booths with a variety of mainly vegetables, flowers, and fruit keikis for planting in your garden. Her organization, Hoʻoulu Lāhui is a non-profit (501-c3), formed to awaken Hawaiian culture, values, beliefs, and lifestyle in partnership with the community to achieve unity, harmony, and total well-being (Lokahi). 

Susie shared that, “Ho’oulu Lahui was formed in 1995 when we secured 600 acres in the lower coast improvement and operated a cultural education centre while restoring the ancient Hawaiian village of Pu’ala’a. In 2000, we opened our charter school, ​Kua O Ka Lā, which successfully operated until 2018 when the land was taken by the lava.” 

Ho’oulu Lahui is currently purchasing 5 acres of the Nani Mau Gardens to support the long-term stabilization of Kua O Ka Lā and the development of a community resilience hub. 

The ‘SPACE’ booth had the most lively facilitators with the Alpine family: father Galen juggling balls while holding their son, Koru, in his arms, and mother, Morgan, with her engaging smile, informing me of what they do. ‘SPACE’ stands for Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education and is a Community Resilience Hub to help anchor and resource individuals, families, and organizations local to the lower Puna. For over 30 years, Hawai’i’s Volcano Circus via its 3-acre educational campus in Seaview, SPACE, has produced enriching education, arts, cultural, performance agriculture, and business incubation programming and services to the greater lower Puna community and beyond. More info: https://hawaiisvolcanocircus.org/

Puna Rising Ohana is dedicated to the recovery and renewal of Puna by connecting our communities through various resources, some of which we hope to provide and can be found on their website punarising.com . Puna Happenings hosts a list of weekly events sent out to their mailing list: https://punarising.com/puna-happenings/

Puna Rising Ohana’s mission as a media organization focus is the community. Giving people within the community a place to connect, inform, and inspire the people of Puna to work collaboratively, to identify markets for their goods and services, to explore new opportunities, and to build a stronger and robust community ethos. A 21st-century commons that engages and uplifts all members of the community. Their current program, “A Moveable Feast,” has helped many fledgling groups to hold events to offer their services or entertainments. One of the most successful events is The Hydroponic Hut. They are currently taking applications for the second round of “The Moveable Feast: https://punarising.com/the-moveable-feast/

All in all, ‘Revitalize Puna” was a worthwhile event to attend in the genre of ‘Edutainment’! The focus of Community Preparedness & Resilience with knowledgeable representatives from many different agencies, including Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, the Network of Community Resilience Hubs, plus CERT, Community Emergency Response Team, to name a few integral organizations. Special Kudos to the co-hosts, Ashley Kierkiewitz, her office for Council District 4, Civil Defense Agency, and the Kilauea Disaster Recovery Division. Everything went smoothly from the assortment of the booth layouts, the special speaker presentations in the gym, and the variety of food trucks to choose from if you didn’t want to use your free food voucher. We can all look forward to the next event in this series on ‘Revitalizing Puna’.