Join us on Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. to hear the stories of our past participants, staff, and board members here at Palama Settlement. Four of the 16 narrators who were interviewed by Paula Rath, project director for the oral histories, will present brief clips and talks regarding their lives, as well as their involvement with Palama Settlement. Dr. Davianna McGregor, Director Emeritus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Center for Oral History, will moderate the program, covering themes that connect communities in Hawai’i and build a sense of Hawai’i identity.
This event is open to the public. Palama offers free parking in back of the gymnasium. For more information, please call (808) 848-2530.
Kahala Nui recently made an incredible donation of $253,540 through Aloha United Way to support a number of local organizations’ COVID-19 response efforts. Palama Settlement is one of the recipients of this money, which will go to support our emergency food pantry, pantry deliveries to kupuna, and grab-and-go keiki suppers during the COVID-19 stay-home order. Kahala Nui has been a longtime supporter of our organization, donating hundreds of care bags to Palama each holiday season filled with canned goods and home and hygiene products, which we distribute to homebound kupuna in Kalihi-Palama. We are incredibly grateful for Kahala Nui’s inspiring sense of philanthropy and community and are humbled to receive funding that will allow us to continue our pandemic response efforts for the vulnerable.
Mahalo, Kahala Nui!
Link to the KITV news story here.
UPDATE: Beginning April 13, Palama Settlement will no longer be serving grab-and-go lunches for keiki. Likelike Elementary will be serving breakfast from 7:30-8:00 AM and lunch from 11:30-12:00 PM for all keiki and youth under 18 years. All other lunch sites listed below will continue to serve lunches, too. On April 13, Palama will begin serving grab-and-go suppers from 3:30-4:30 PM to ensure there is breakfast, lunch, AND dinner available to children. Pick up will be the same as lunches – please park in Palama’s front parking lot off N. Vineyard Boulevard and a staff member will bring the meals out to your car.
To view the press release, please click here.
The Palama Settlement Senior Program is suspended for the rest of the semester due to concerns about COVID-19. Activities will resume in the fall. Please check back on our website for information about registration and classes in August.
The health and well-being of our kupuna is our priority. We strongly encourage all our senior program participants to protect themselves against COVID-19 by avoiding close contact with others and maintaining good personal hygiene.
Information about the virus and recommendations for seniors are available via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
Click here to view a PDF version.
February 6, 2020 – Servco presented Palama Settlement with a $22,000 check today, raised from 2019 sales of the limited edition Toyota Sport Bag, which launched last year in celebration of Servco’s 100th anniversary. The bags were sold in Servco’s parts shops and were a thank you gift with new car purchases.
Back in the 1960s, Tom Fukunaga saw children at Palama Settlement carrying their baseball gear to a game without any bags. Determined to help Hawaii’s disadvantaged youth, the second-generation Servco president created a program to provide free sport bags to community athletic teams. The Toyota Sport Bag was a hit and, by the early 1980s, Servco was giving away tens of thousands of bags a year. The bag went through several iterations, turning each version into a collector’s item, especially once the program was discontinued in the early 1990s.
In honor of Servco’s 100th anniversary, the company created a replica of the beloved Toyota bag. All profits from the sale of each bag were donated to Palama Settlement on Oahu and Big Brothers Big Sisters on the Neighbor Islands.
Palama Settlement is so grateful for Servco’s longstanding support. The generous contribution will go to support programs that serve keiki and kupuna in the Kalihi community – including the Pakolea youth athletic program, which first inspired the Sport Bag and is still going strong today.
Join Palama Settlement for its annual Community Holiday Event! Bring your family for refreshments, live entertainment, and lucky drawing prize giveaways. All children will have a photo opportunity with Santa and receive a gift, thanks to Toys for Tots. This event is free and open to the public.
To see photos from previous years, click here.
Dedicated Palama Settlement volunteers Shelly and Reid Shimabukuro were featured in the October 2, 2019 MidWeek Good Neighbor Column. In addition to helping with the Pakolea football program as mentioned in the article, Shelly and Reid and their children have helped serve Keiki Thanksgiving Dinner, cook hot dogs for the annual community Holiday Event, and participate in campus beautification projects. Palama is grateful to have volunteers like Shelly and Reid support its programs and help to make their community a better place.
If you are interested in getting involved with Palama Settlement, let us know!
PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 2, 2019
Palama Settlement Launches Expanded Technology Program for At-Risk Teens: $50,000 Grant from The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation Fuels Coding & Graphic Design in Kalihi
HONOLULU, Hawaii – On Saturday, July 27, The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation presented a check in the amount of $50,000 to Palama Settlement to support coding and digital media classes for its In-Community Treatment Program and Community Based School (ICTP/CBS). The Ching Foundation Executive Director Tertia Freas and The Ching Foundation Trustees Bob Fujioka and Cathy Ching made the presentation at Palama’s end of summer STEAM education exhibition celebration, which was attended by Palama keiki and their families. This summer the students participated in coding and robotics classes which were led by the instructors from Twiddle Productions. This event was their opportunity to share the games and robotic boats that they created throughout the course of the class.
Representatives from The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation present PalamaSettlement with a $50,000 check for its ICTP/CBS technology program.**Back row, from left to right: Ching Foundation Trustee Cathy Ching, Ching Foundation Executive Director Tertia Freas, Ching Foundation Trustee Bob Fujioka, and Palama Settlement Board of Trustees President John Taira.
For additional photos, click here.**
**Check presentation took place during the 2019 end of summer STEAM education exhibit which featured keiki coding and robotics participants (pictured). ICTP/CBS youth are not pictured, due to the confidentiality.
Thanks to the generosity of The Ching Foundation grant, Palama Settlement will continue its partnership with Twiddle Productions to launch an expanded technology training program for ICTP/CBS students. “Our Foundation continues to support programs that improves the lives of children in our state, especially for those that come from families that are financially challenged,” says Tertia Freas, Executive Director of The Ching Foundation. “The education in technology will enable these children to develop their talents and realize their capabilities in the future.”
Students will create their own websites and edit videos using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Scratch. The goal of this course is to allow students the opportunity to learn some of the marketable skills required for a successful entry into the job market. The grant funds will be used for personnel costs and supplies for the program.
“The coding and graphic design course for ICTP/CBS is part of a series of new program offerings at Palama Settlement,” says Earl Fusato, Executive Director of Palama Settlement. “We are striving to focus on technology and arts activities like those that have either been discontinued or are not available in our public schools. We are grateful to The Ching Foundation for recognizing the importance of STEAM education and skill building for our teens. Without this funding, this program would limit the opportunity we can offer to our students.”
About In-Community Treatment Program and Community Based School
The students enrolled in the In-Community Treatment Program (ICTP) and Community Based School (CBS) are at-risk youth who have demonstrated difficulties in the traditional school setting due to various reasons ranging from chronic truancy, and behavioral issues, as well as social and family dysfunction. . Since 1970 ICTP has been accepting adjudicated youth referred by Family Court and 2018, CBS began accepting students who display at-risk behaviors, but are not adjudicated. The goal of is to improve school performance and attendance, eliminate law violating behaviors and develop socially acceptable skills and attitudes through a low student-to- staff ratio to reengage and motivate, the students desire to learn and reach their goals.
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About Palama Settlement
Established in 1896, Palama Settlement is a non-profit, community-based social service agency serving the Kalihi and Palama neighborhoods. We offer a wide range of educational, recreational, athletic, cultural, social, health, and community building programs and services for children, youth, adults, and senior citizens.
Website: www.palamasettlement.org | Facebook: @malamapalama | Instagram: @palamasettlement
Media Contact
Leah LeeDonor Relations & Marketing Coordinatorp. (808) 848-2532 | e. llee@palamasettlement.org