Before

After

Within the space of four hours on Saturday, February 11, 2011, Palolo Valley District Park and Recreation Center tennis court area were helped to shine like a polished gem reflecting the light of the afternoon sun. Honolulu Sunset Rotary Club, Costco, Babolat, HEAD/Penn, members from the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State government, and Hawaiian Isles Tennis (HIT) came together on a Saturday morning for a Park Clean Up Day and to work as one.

Before

After

Hawaiian Isles Tennis’ strategy to revitalize the park tennis area was four fold, including painting, collecting opala, weeding and tuning up older tennis rackets. The all-volunteer group was unified in purpose, organized and set out to clean, pick up around and paint adjacent to the tennis courts at the Palolo Valley District Park. Also, tennis balls and grips for the community programs were donated by Head/Penn and grips for refreshing rackets were donated by Babolat, which the volunteers applied while catching some shade in between painting and cleaning.

In 2011, HIT formally adopted Palolo Park Tennis Courts in the City & County of Honolulu Adopt-A-Park program. Leilani Magee, community advocate, award winning USPTA certified teaching professional and Principal of HIT, assembled this diverse team to give people a chance to be of service in relationship to tennis in the public parks. Every day, local organizations are taking note and joining forces on her mission to “Advance Community Through Tennis”. Here’s more about the team and activities that gathered last weekend to malama Palolo.

Christel Yount at the mic                                                        Clinton Jamile, Paul Jurcsak

Retired school teacher and active Honolulu Sunset Rotary Club member, Christel Yount enlisted the leadership of Paul Jurcsak, Club President, who brought 20 Honolulu Sunset Rotarians to a Community Work Day.

"The Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunset lives up to the Rotary motto of ‘Service Above Self’ by building partnerships and making a positive difference on our community." – Paul Jurcsak, President, Honolulu Sunset Rotary

Johnny Sanchez, Health and Wellness Coordinator for Costco and Honolulu Sunset Rotary Club Community Service Chair orchestrated resources from Rotary and Costco, including a professional paint sprayer machine from Rotarian and Bubbies Ice Cream owner, Win Schoneman. Ed Gerlich of the Waikiki Yacht Club manned the machine and a team of painters to produce a final product of which the whole group is proud.

“Costco was happy to help the Palolo project and especially the kids.” – Johnny Sanchez, Costco Health & Wellness, and Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunset Community Service Director

Sanchez and Costco equipped the team for the painting project and provided kau kau for the working crew.  Sanchez recruited the help of painting specialist and Palolo local, Brendan Virardi, who made the painting master plan and prepped the walls, treating them to a power wash a few days in advance before handing the baton to Ed Gerlich.

“This particular park means a lot to me. It’s nice to be able to serve the community that I live in. In the end, if that’s the attitude we all take, we’re all winners.” – Brendan Virardi, Construction/Paint Specialist

Doug on the roller, Eddie with the sprayer

Babolat Representative, Rose Jones of Washington mailed in a big bunch of new overwrap grips in many exciting colors to provide a solution to old grips disintegrating in the hands of the After School All-Stars “Kulia” Jarrett Middle School youth participating in the no-charge HIT Play Tennis! program. Jack Blezard, local representative of HEAD/Penn and Maui Jim’s Sunglasses donated more rackets, grips and a case of tennis balls to apply to the programs which he has generously supported over the past several years.

The City & County of Honolulu, Department of Parks & Recreation has a strong team backing the project and joining the community coalition, led by Deputy Director of Parks & Recreation, Al Tufono.

"The City & County of Honolulu, Department of Parks & Recreation is partnering with organizations and businesses to bring in resources and make good things happen. Together we are creating partnerships, programs and fostering pride in our parks and communities."           – Al Tufono, Deputy Director of Parks & Recreation, City & County of Honolulu

Al Tufono

Leilani Magee, Calvin Say

Calvin Say, Speaker of the House of Representatives, State of Hawaii worked a couple of hours on project day and donated water.

Joe Yasutake, Ann Kobayashi

Ann Kobayashi, Honolulu County, District 5 Councilwoman and Budget Committee Chair visited Palolo ahead of time to assess community needs for inclusion in future plans.

Clinton Jamile, Adopt-A-Park Coordinator, directed City & County resources to the park clean up.

Bert Fishman, Brendan Virardi

Bert Fishman, Director of Recreation at Palolo Valley District Park and Malae, Palolo Park Recreation Assistant volunteered on their days off. The event follows in the footsteps of historic Palolo Pride events and Clean Up Days of years past, organized by community leader and former Palolo Park Director, Joe Yasutake.

“What we did together was not really work, but service. And in its meaningfulness and in doing it together we enjoyed a deep sense of joy. It's great to see the courts no longer locked up, to see park conditions improving and tennis programming for the general public.” – Leilani Magee, Principal, HIT

The Park Clean Up Day shows what the City and County Department of Parks and Recreation can do when it partners with non-profits and private business to the advantage of the entire community.

Links:

Honolulu Sunset Rotary Club

Photos thanks to Al Dixon:

Club Anniversary Meeting

Palolo Clean-Up