Scott Fukuhara

To any professional who is or wants to feel “younger”, please join in on the fun Community Service Events organized by the HWEA/AWWA Young Professionals. Many of us are also relatively new to the group and simply want to meet our peers while giving back to our local communities and environment. Pro tip: If you’re worried about meeting a bunch of strangers, bring some colleagues!

The YPs have been staying active this fall, especially at the community service event this past May with the Hawaii Food Bank, which had a decent amount of physical activity. Our job for the day was to assist with packaging products for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which helps to support low-income senior citizens who may be facing food insecurity. Over 2,000 boxes  containing about 25 pounds of food and juices each were put together, loaded onto pallets, and prepped for distribution. Like clockwork, boxes and food were flying down the assembly line at a dizzying pace. Although fatigue set in early into the event, knowing that each box filled, one more person could feed themselves for a few more days kept the volunteers motivated to push on.

In July, the YPs were at it again, spending time assisting the Aloha Animal Sanctuary which is the only Agricultural animal sanctuary in the state which regularly rescues animals from various islands.

The sanctuary was fairly small, nestled in a residential area in Kaneohe, but had a wide range of animals, many of which had fascinating stories. Ducks, goats, sheep, pigs, geese, a turkey, you name it. Work was light as we pulled weeds, spread out hay to reduce mud, and best of all got to feed some sheep. This may be one we’ll have to repeat.