The Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay installed 22 rescue tubes around the bay from Hanalei Pier to Waipa on Saturday, which earned the club a $10,000 donation to forward to a Kaua‘i food bank.
Branch Lotspeich, the club’s community services chair, said the rescue tube installation was a service project under a Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Friends Program grant.
Lotspeich said 48 Rotary Club members installed the flotation devices that are used in water rescues, surpassing the minimum 25 members needed to fulfill the conditions of the Weinberg Foundation program.
Under the program’s provisions, if a participating club conducts a large community service project with the participation of at least 25 members, the foundation agrees to make a $10,000 donation to an approved nonprofit organization of the club’s choice.
“This year, we selected the Hawai‘i Food Bank and designated the $10,000 to be used to support the food pantry programs on Kaua‘i’s North Shore,” Lotspeich said in an email.
With the 22 rescue tubes installed by the Rotary Club, there are now 27 rescue tubes on the bay, including one in front of each lifeguard tower for use when lifeguards are off-duty, Lotspeich said.
Lotspiech said the 48 volunteers also spent time cleaning Black Pot Park and beaches the length of the
bay after installing the
rescue tubes.
“In the three years rescue tubes have been installed on Kaua‘i, there are now about 160 rescue tubes which had about 40 known uses,” Lotspeich said. “It is estimated this has resulted in about 12 lives saved.”
Lotspeich said the initial effort was started by the Kaua‘i Lifeguard Association, and the Rotary clubs on Kaua‘i have become major supporters of the rescue tube program.
The program has resulted in a spin-off called the Rescue Tube Foundation, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization with a goal to provide rescue tube systems permanently mounted on the shores of recreational swimming areas around the country, starting in Hawai‘i. For more information, visit www.rescuetubefoundation.org.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
