Making friends & community Service (transplants, house, neighborhood)

[Frangi914]

I figure making friends and community service go hand and hand….

We (my husband and I) don’t want to just take and we feel it's extremely important to get involved in your community and lend a hand where needed. Being we will be “Mainland/East Coast transplants” to Hawaii next year We want to dive in and give what we can by volunteering, and if that means just lending a hand to help keep Hawaii beautiful, I’d gladly pick up trash on a beach., or help the homeless, etc.

What do you guys suggest to help us get our feet wet?

Being native New Yorkers, we get a bad reputation for not being the friendliest folk in the world; I would like to NOT live up to that stereotype. Funny story though….My husband and I were in Fiji some years ago and our flight back to Hawaii was delayed. Being the Fijians have a laid back culture the crowd at the airport wasn’t getting much information about what was going on or when the flight was actually going to be in. Well, of course there was this one individual who started making a scene, climbing over the baggage check-in counter and cursing obscenities about being from Brooklyn and he didn’t give a s__t and was demanding to know what was going on. (Keep in mind that he was the only one in the crowd doing this). I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I will work that much harder to not be put into the same category as this individual. It was horrible to have seen and I was totally embarrassed for New York.

I feel ones actions cause others to form an opinion of the place one is from. To be able to live in Hawaii is such a blessing that giving before taking is the only thing that makes sense to us

Thanks

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Frangi, you are on the right track, and it's great that you are looking for ways to give back to the community. Once you move, talk to your neighbors, read the newspaper, find out what's going on in your community since they all have different needs. We plan to volunteer in the schools because there is a big need for good role models and my husband (being a teacher on the mainland) can tutor.

We have a couple of volunteer organizations in our neighborhood, including neighborhood watch, volunteer fire department, and a group that organizes beach and park clean-ups. There are also people who actively search out and apply for grants for improving various aspects of the community. We happen to have a house in a rural part of the Big Island, where there are lots of different needs.

[MsHell]

Volunteering is a great idea!

Here is a good link for volunteer programs in Hawaii.
Volunteer Hawaii

[Frangi914]

My husband is a teacher too (High School) . This is one of the things we truly are looking forward to. Also, thanks for the link!