Ritchie into their new in November, Mudd and the leaders at RSI Roofing & Building Supply fully expected to be out of Kapa‘a and facility in Puhi said Jim Rosa of Jim Rosa Roofing Company and Rosa’s Supply. But because
Ritchie into their new in November, Mudd and the leaders at RSI Roofing & Building Supply fully expected to be out of Kapa‘a and facility in Puhi said Jim Rosa of Jim Rosa Roofing Company and Rosa’s Supply.
But because of delays in getting building permits, construction of the new RSI facility in Puhi continues today, Rosa said.
Rosa knows these things because he sold the supply side of his company to RSI leaders last year, and the RSI folks continue to lease twothirds of a parcel owned by the Rosa family in Arzadon Industrial Subdivision off Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a.
The RSI people are expected to move to Puhi as soon as the new facility is done.
Rosa, who returned to being a roofing contractor fulltime after selling the supply side of his company, said he felt comfortable selling the supply side of the business to Mudd after Mudd agreed to continue Rosa’s tradition of giving back to the Kaua‘i community.
In fact, Mudd agreed to give to churches, sports teams, and other nonprofit entities to the same degree Rosa has every year, Rosa said. Mudd has already purchased a pig at the 4H auction and donated it back to the community.
They have also agreed to continue to house and offer free of charge to nonprofit groups “Uncle Tony’s Sweet Shop” for fundraisers.
The popcorn and shave-ice machines are gifts to the community from the late Mayor Tony Kunimura, and are offered free of charge to organizers of youth fundraisers.
For three years, Mary Thronas paid for supplies for the machines, and then Rosa took over.
The machines were housed at Rosa’s place on the Eastside, and by Tony Silva in Kalaheo, when Kunimura was still alive.
Giving back is a way of life for Rosa.
Even as a roofing contractor, much of the work he does is for free, in part because that’s the way he is, and in part because as a supplier of roofing products he was prohibited by his suppliers from competing with contractors he sold supplies to, he said.
“I do a lot of free work,” he said, rattling off several completed or ongoing projects in Koke‘e State Park (pavilions, restrooms, the old Civilian Conservation Corps camp), work for Kapaa United Church of Christ and St. Catherine Church, and many others.
The giving back goes way beyond his on-the-roof charity, as he has a long track record of never saying “no” to youth sports groups, church groups, or just about anyone else raising funds for just about any worthy cause.
He won a March of Dimes humanitarian award for his history of giving.
The giving sometimes is to ensure roofs over the heads of future generations of Rosas, too. “I gifted everything I own to my children,” through an irrevocable trust that encourages his children to give it all to their children. The gifts include Rosa’s commercial land in Kapa‘a, agricultural property off Waipouli Road in Wailua Homesteads, and a family cattle ranch 200 miles north of Las Vegas that has been in the family since the 1800s.
His parents are trustees.
“As a Catholic and Christian, I try my best to set an example of love and kindness to all, by walking my talk. I am confident my children, raised as Christians, will be good tenders of the land, helping people in need, following the word of God,” Rosa said.
He is leasing back some of the family commercial land in Kapa‘a, for the office and yard of Jim Rosa Roofing Company LLC and Rosa’s Storage LLC, a container-storage business with around 20 renters.
Mudd leases the other two-thirds of the parcel.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 2453681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
