Happy Camper for Monday, Nov. 8, 2021

Edwin Vea cannot wait to go back to work at The Beach House Restaurant following one year and seven months of recovery from an auto accident.

“I think my first day back is Wednesday,” Vea said following meeting Jenny Chapman, his neighbor and the grand prize winner of the Good Neighbor contest presented by State Farm Insurance and The KQNG Radio Group. “I don’t have anything left — my unemployment ran out, already.”

Vea said he nominated Jenny and her family into the contest after they did a lot of things to help him with his recovery.

Chapman, who was shopping at the Kaua‘i Made Fair at the Waipouli Town Center (it’s next to the Kapa‘a fire station) said as the contest winner, she received some cash, gift cards from Safeway, Texaco, Times Supermarket, Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Salts, and a bunch of gifts from Darrelynn Lemke and State Farm Insurance.

“Uncle wrote a really nice letter,” Chapman said. “We didn’t do anything more than what any neighbor would do.”

Lani Kaui, and a lot of other people were just happy for a reason to get out and enjoy the sunshine (they should’ve gone to the KIF football where it rained!). Valerie Saiki was trying to imagine how a coffee cup from Clay in Mind with pottery from Chris Broussard would feel in her mother’s hands after a ring holder (what do you do with your ring when you wash dishes?) caught her eye.

OK, maybe it’s time to check out Edwin at The Beach House restaurant…it’s his first day back at work!