LIHU‘E — Denise Tripoli is betting that a little bit of aloha will beget tons of aloha. And she is banking on others to do like her, practicing random acts of kindness, in order to begin to solve the AIDS
LIHU‘E — Denise Tripoli is betting that a little bit of aloha will beget tons of aloha.
And she is banking on others to do like her, practicing random acts of kindness, in order to begin to solve the AIDS pandemic in Africa one child at a time.
She left Friday on a one-woman mission, dubbed “Aloha to Africa,” with part of her intent to make use of free tickets American Airlines is giving away to flyers on certain Mainland routes to be used to bring African children to Kaua‘i to experience the island’s aloha spirit firsthand.
Along the way, she is hoping Donald Trump will fly coach with her, and that when others learn of her leap of faith they will come along for at least part of the ride.
She is at the same time petrified and committed. “I’m going alone, and I’m scared to death,” she said just before leaving last week.
“Once the word gets out, someone will get involved,” she says assuredly.
Moved by the story of Oprah Winfrey going to Africa and donating money to open a girls’ school there, Tripoli, new manager of the Lihu‘e branch of City Bank, has embarked on a mission of her own.
Without hotel, car or any other reservations other than her flights, she is hoping to link up with influential people on the East Coast, get some radio and TV time, and convince some people to make a couple of flights with her from New York or Boston to Miami and back in order to qualify for roundtrip tickets anywhere in the world, through a promotion by American Airlines aimed at putting financial pressure on low-cost competitor JetBlue Airways.
She’ll use the anywhere tickets to bring young African children to Kaua‘i, possibly as early as this summer, to experience the island’s hospitality and “solve the problem (of AIDS in Africa) one child at a time.”
A single mother, Tripoli, 42, used to be director of operations at A Pacific Cafe in Waipouli’s Kaua‘i Village, and got to know a lot of people through initiating that restaurant’s kama‘aina half-off Sundays promotion.
She is hoping that contributions to Aloha to Africa will come from un-traditional sources, such as found money from businesses from fewer losses through better operating procedures.
Still, she is also banking on knowledge that Kaua‘i has the highest charitable contribution rate per capita of anywhere in the United States.
Tripoli is also hoping that a Kaua‘i school or two might eventually become a sister school for Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in Africa.
While in New York, Tripoli hopes to talk her way into radio and TV studios, possibly onto “The View,” and tell a larger audience of her plans.
Someone has already talked to her about donating 800,000 frequent-flyer miles to her cause, something she can relate to. “I work my frequent-flyer programs better than anyone else in the world,” she said with a wide smile.
Tiffani Sugai, the county’s film commissioner, has been making calls on her behalf, trying to line up interviews for Tripoli in New York, and in Chicago with Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.
Tripoli isn’t going in empty handed, bearing gifts of Kaua‘i products including Kauai Kookies, Kauai Coffee, fresh lei, key chains and other gifts of the islands.
A member of the board of the Kauai International Children’s and Television Festival, planned to begin in 2005, Tripoli has the full support of her new employer, City Bank, where her supervisors gave her their blessing, saying her ideas fit into their ideas of corporate philanthropy, she said.
Not bad for someone who has been with the bank just over a month.
And even if she returns to Kaua‘i with just two free anywhere tickets (she has two New York-to-Miami trips booked for herself), the adventure will have been worth the experience, she said before leaving.
She returns to Kaua‘i on Easter Sunday, April 11.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
