• Research before donating • Treatment may be good option to jail • Taking the politics out of politics Research before donating Aloha; As the holidays approach, more and more charities seem to be seeking donations from each of us.
• Research before donating • Treatment may be good option to
jail • Taking the politics out of politics
Research before donating
Aloha;
As the holidays approach, more and more charities seem to be seeking donations from each of us. However worthy the cause sounds, it’s important to think before you donate. Do some research on charities that interest you. Call them. Reputable nonprofits should be eager to answer your questions.
Make sure your donation goes where you want it to go. There are national parents of local organizations that provide no funding locally. Others do. Some have very-high overhead rates. Others operate on lean budgets. Telephone solicitations are often private fundraisers who keep large percentages of donations and pass along just a portion to the cause they are advocating. If a telephone solicitation intrigues you, hang up, research the organization and if you like what you see, donate directly to the charity.
One of the advantages of giving to Kaua‘i United Way is that we do the research for you. Ask any members of our board or staff how thoroughly we look into our agencies — finances, programs, meeting minutes, audits, IRS filings — we go through it all, every single year. We evaluate the social-service needs of our island annually and direct funding where it will do the most good for our whole community. This allows us to maintain funding for on-going needs yet retain the flexibility to address emerging issues, as our community’s needs are continuously in flux. We monitor our agencies throughout the year as well, and when we spot areas where they should be working more closely with another agency or doing something better, we help them get there.
Kaua‘i United Way is independent and dedicated to serving our island exclusively. Money raised on Kaua‘i stays on Kaua‘i.
When you give to our whole community through Kaua‘i United Way — or to any of our fine participating agencies directly — you have Kaua‘i United Way’s promise that your money will, in fact, be put to good work providing meaningful services to the people of our island — we guarantee it.
Giving to Kaua‘i United Way, our island’s umbrella charitable organization, is a great way to support our whole community with just one gift. If you have questions or would like to donate, go to our website at kauaiunitedway.org or give us a call at 245-2043. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 1087 in Lihu‘e (96766). Let’s all live united — the Kaua‘i United Way!
Scott N. Giarman, Executive Director, Kaua‘i United Way, Lihu‘e
Treatment may be good option to jail
I will begin by saying I read the article on Mr. (Le Beau) Lagmay’s request to alter his one-year incarceration and the denial of his request by Judge Valenciano (“Judge denies Lagmay request to reconsider 1-year prison term,” Nov. 26) with great interest, not because I know Mr. Lagmay, nor because I support his actions, but instead because I feel strongly that when someone in his situation is asking to be allowed to participate in a treatment program such as that offered by The Salvation Army, even if it may seem only an alternative to incarceration, it might serve as the best justice for both the individual and the community. To continue treating drug addiction with imprisonment simply supports a highly flawed and ineffective strategy that often does more harm than good. Our recent community meetings suggests this is well-known by the police, by treatment professionals, and by former addicts, but apparently the lack of understanding, or options in the legal and correctional systems, continues to beat the horse, even post-mortem.
Maybe, if the reality of addiction were to strike their families, though I hope it never does, their eyes, and hearts, would be opened. Maybe we could build and support treatment facilities instead of more prisons! Finally, I hope that YOU, whoever you are, might consider that, as a society we need to change our strategy to one that might help, rather than one we know does not, and may God help us all!
John Owens, Lihu‘e
Taking the politics out of politics
Contrary to the thrust of Sunday’s editorial ( “Council should use professional search process to choose clerk,” Nov. 28), the proposal to “secure the assistance of an executive search firm for the process of choosing the county clerk” is itself a political proposal. It marks the beginning of political maneuvering in the new council, wherein a seeming minority opposed to re-hiring the incumbent clerk hopes to gain two votes in council by spending taxpayer money on a search firm.
The mayor is proposing to re-hire the incumbent county attorney. Should the council also propose hiring an executive-search firm to assist the mayor and council in finding a county attorney?
The way to “minimize” politics in the selection of the county clerk and “bring greater clarity as to expectations and goals” is to focus on the charter-mandated responsibilities of both council and county clerk.
Beyond that, the reality is that the county clerk will do the bidding of the council chair on a day-to-day basis because the clerk is a political appointee serving at the pleasure of the council and under the direction of the chairman.
Attention to the charter and open and honest communication among councilmembers, not the services of an outside firm, is what will bring “greater clarity as to expectations and goals” relating to the office of the county clerk regardless of who occupies the position.
Horace Stoessel, Kapa‘a
