A volunteer effort at Boys & Girls Club, West Kaua‘i

WAIMEA — More than two years have passed since the Boys & Girls Club, West Kaua‘i moved into its current location in the old Waimea Dispensary building, or the Easter Seals Building, located adjacent to the Waimea High School campus.

“This project is more than just repainting,” said Tina Albao, the Boys & Girls Club Director of Development-Kaua‘i. “This is the former Waimea Police Station site, and there’s a lot of work that we need to do, such as taking out the walls of the tiny spaces that were used as holding cells.”

More than 30 volunteers from Sandia Labs, the Boys & Girls Club and Akima spent Sunday, March 24, reworking some of the rooms in the old dispensary to become more suitable for the after school program.

“Sandia Labs is a contractor for more than 60 years with the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Mana,” said Reubin Martinez of Sandia. “More than half the people working here are from our main offices Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We’re doing this because the Boys & Girls Club need our help.”

Ken Dama of Akima, another contractor at PMRF, coordinated the effort that got the Sandia volunteers to the facility where they were making good progress repainting the walls, ceiling and hallways while another team, including Martinez and Dama, worked on tearing down walls of the former holding cells and loading them onto a truck for disposal.

“They need a sign on the outside so people know this is the Boys & Girls Club,” Dama said.

Albao said the volunteers worked really hard on the project.

“We’ve been busy laying the paper on the ground before Sunday,” Albao said. “My back is still aching, but these people are saving us a lot with all their efforts. This is far more than just putting paint on the walls. They’re saving us a lot with the teardown and disposal of the walls and the other work beside painting.”