Service can start at any age April 17, 2014

This past September, Nainoa Arincorayan, a sixth grader at Kamehameha Schools, took part in a three-day imu workshop and service learning project organized and hosted by Ka Pa‘alana. Part of the three-day experience involved volunteering at a homeless shelter and building planter boxes for the residents at a nearby homeless camp. So, when his teacher assigned the class a service learning project, Nainoa knew exactly what he wanted to do—build planter boxes for the shelter he had visited.

Nainoa raised money by organizing a garage sale, purchased supplies and with the help of Uncle Bill Castro, built two planter boxes that he donated to the USVets Pai‘olu Kaiāulu Shelter in Wai‘anae so that shelter residents could grow plants and vegetables. USVets Executive Director Gladys Peraro (second from left) and USVets Community Relations Coordinator Rita Martin (left) were on site to receive the finished planter boxes from Nainoa.

We often underestimate the potential of young people to enact social change, but Nainoa’s example proves that service can start at any age, even in the sixth grade. Mahalo to Nainoa, his parents Vicky and Derrick, and Uncle Bill Castro for their heart for service.