KEKAHA — Kekaha Elementary School got a new sign and some money Saturday during the Waste Management’s Kekaha Great American Cleanup.
Jason Yoshida, school principal, said the sign was made through efforts spearheaded by Billy DeCosta and the Waimea High School building and construction class with Steven Uyehara and Julian Lacro.
John Ruiz, manager of Waste Management, Kaua‘i, initiated the effort, rousting volunteers to help with the project that included work on the school’s hula mound and other areas of the campus.
Ruiz also presented Yoshida with a check for $4,000 for campus beautification.
“We can use it for almost anything as long as it’s for beautifying the campus,” Yoshida said.
Ruiz said work on the hula mound involved taking off a layer of sand, re-installing fresh sand and covering it with what he described as a chicken mat.
“It’s porous enough to allow the grass and plants to grow, but chickens don’t like it because it has grab,” Ruiz said. “You just slide a little and it’ll grab you. The chickens don’t like that.”
Waste Management also paid for the materials for tihe new sign.
Yoshida said the base for the new sign was handled by the state’s Department of Accounting and General Services through the efforts of Warren Sakuda, Julius Jacinto, Nelson Nitta, Rick Garma and Ron Macabeo.
Pat Pereira and the School Community Council was joined by the Kupa‘a Iloko Kona church led by Sam Bustillos, one of the volunteers translating the church’s name to mean “to stand firm in each hand.”
Dennis Okihara and Obsessions Cafe in Waimea provided half of the food for volunteers.
As the sun rose and the Kekaha heat set in, the volunteers retired to the shade of the monkeypod tree canopy over the hula mound to reflect on the work they accomplished.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
