Community Submission made by: Graham Ellis, Educator, and President of the Hawaii Sustainable Community Alliance.
Since he moved to Lower Puna, Lorn has been the region’s most consistent supporter of local community building activities. He is a person who walks his talk when it comes to using his monetary wealth and expertise for the benefit of his neighbours. Lorn became the biggest supporter of HICCUP circus programs and over the years, he has sponsored dozens of local kids to go to circus camps and classes.
Lorn also played a major role in the creation of the Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education (S.P.A.C.E.). He served on the board of directors for many years and was our first and largest private donor. As a board member, Lorn helped create S.P.A.C.E. as a permanent home for the HICCUP kids and was later one of the architects of its transformation into a thriving community facility. The list of beneficiaries from Lorn’s community service and philanthropy is long. While living in Ka’u he was on the board which successfully paved 160 miles of non-county private roads that had been crumbling for decades.
Since the late 1980s he’s continuously served as a volunteer mediator at the Kuikahi Mediation Center in Hilo assisting hundreds of people resolve conflicts. He helped save the beautiful grove of ancient mango trees along Pohoiki Road that were going to be cut down for a golf course. He was then quite active in Friends of the Red Road and has contributed to the success of La’akea, Polestar, Gaia Yoga and Lolia communities and has been on the boards of Hawaii’s Volcano Circus, Hawaiian Sanctuary, Kalani Eco Resort and Kalapana Seaview Estates Community Association.
Lorn has been an active member of the inspiring Mankind Project and mentored young men in maths at local Charter Schools. He also gave valuable support to the Hawaii Alliance for Sustainable Community in promoting legislation. He continually encourages the grassroots sustainable living movement in Hawaii and is a bona-fide ‘environmental warrior’.
He not only grows much of his own food, with a carbon negative lifestyle powered totally off grid, but drives fully electric cars and is committed to teaching and supporting others to live more sustainably in many ways. He’s an inspiring example of how we can live more harmoniously with the planet. While other philanthropists invest in projects in far away places, Lorn uses his financial resources to benefit the people of Puna.
He’s supported several start-up businesses and community projects and continues to do so today. In recent years the Lorn and his wife Shakti have devoted huge amounts of their time developing community through couples workshops and counselling services they provide for free. Dozens of participants have benefited from the wisdom and inspiration they share and are eternally indebted to them both for their invaluable tools and techniques that daily help maintain the health and wealth of their family relationships. Lorn is a true community hero of Puna, has made a tremendous impact on many people’s lives and continues to do so today.
