Inspired by the life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati the Young Adult Ministry of Our Lady of Good Counsel has been serving the homeless in
Hawaii for the last three years. For the first two years of our ministry we would do weekly feedings and visits out to
Ala Moana Beach Park. However, since May 1st 2006 with the eviction of homeless from the beach park by the City of Honolulu, we have been working in union with the State sponsored organization "Next Step" in providing services from the Homeless at the recently established shelter near Kakaako Beach Park.
We visit shelter every Thursday, rain or shine, holiday or not, to fellowship and talk-story with our homeless friends. Every week we leave the grounds of Our Lady of Good Counsel at 5:30pm and we return no later than 8:00pm. If you are interested in any aspect of our Homeless Ministry: visiting, cooking, or serving meals, please contact Dallas Carter, coordinator of young adult ministries for OLGC, at (808)223-3249 or at the OLGC office at (808)455-3012.
A LETTER FROM DALLAS CARTER, JR. REGARDING HOMELESS MINISTRY,
DATED APRIL 15, 2007
Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ! Our Young Adult Ministry here at Our Lady of Good Counsel have been serving the homeless at the Kaka’ako Shelter, in union with Utu Langi and his H-5 organization, since its opening last year (in the month of May) and 3 years prior to that at Ala Moana Beach Park. In July of last year, we were informed that in order to serve food at the shelter, we needed to prepare the food in a state-certified kitchen. Our Young Adult Ministry, despite this roadblock, was undeterred and continued to serve our brothers and sisters, by preparing food in St. Joseph’s certified kitchen and ordering large amounts of food from Chun Wah Kam in Aiea.
Our group was blessed to have a kitchen available for our usage but we knew that such arrangements would not be easy for all the various community organizations that were eager to serve at the shelter. In the months that followed, we saw a sharp drop-off in the number of organizations able to provide food services for the “Next Step” Shelter because of the lack of finding available certified kitchens to prepare the food. This put unneeded strain on the H-5 organization and thus prompted many of us involved to seek to petition for a change in this particular regulation.
As of Tuesday, April 3, 2007, Governor Linda Lingle signed an emergency bill that exempts charitable organizations from this rule for 120 days while the state finds a permanent way to change this regulation that will exempt non-profit and charitable organizations from this rule. This change will no doubt empower the community at large to play a more active role in serving our island’s homeless and will allow the state organizations involved to focus their efforts on long term solutions such as job placement and housing solutions.”
Our prayers have been answered. Now we are able to serve our brothers and sisters that are in need without any worry of regulations, at least temporarily. With the help of fellow Christians, we will be able to help these people on the short term and also actively look for long term and permanent solution to our island’s homeless issue. Because of the exemption given by the State we are now in a position to be able to invite our parish organizations and families to participate in preparing and serving food to our homeless brothers and sisters. Please contact me at 223-3249 if you are interested in assisting in this ministry.
