 Think Tech Hawaii, civil engagement lives here. Welcome to Sister Power. I'm your host Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, also founder and president of Sisters Empowering Hawaii. Hawaii's foremost women's empowerment organization. February marks Black History Month, a tribute to African-American men and women who have made significant contributions to America and the rest of the world in the fields of science, politics, law, sports, the arts, entertainment, and many other fields. While Black History Month is synonymous with prominent figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and President Barack Obama, there are countless other African-Americans who've made a profound impact in history. Did you know that Madame C.J. Walker was America's first woman to become a self-made millionaire, world-renowned sculptor Edmonia Lewis, science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler, Sarah Boone invented the ironing board, Alexander Miles inventor of the elevator, Henry Sabsson inventor of the cellular phone, and these are just a few of the Black History little-known facts. Our topic for this episode, Women, Wood, and Why Kanda. Today, Sister Power VIP guest, Lisa Eggerson, founder of HP Preservation, and Steve Clerkley, and he's Chief Operations, he's Chief of Operations. Well, welcome, Lisa. Thank you, Miss Sharon. You're having me. Thank you for coming. And welcome, Steve. Steve is via telephone from Temecula. Yes, he is. Hi, Steve. Thank you. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Welcome, welcome. And again, as we were discussing earlier, it's about women. Yes, ma'am. And you are the founder of HP Preservation. Tell us a little bit about HP. Well, HP Preservation is a 501C3 nonprofit organization. We started many years ago, about 2006, and we are feverishly trying to restore endangered species, plants, trees, and birds to the forests of Hawaii. And we are working diligently for the last several years to share our experience and our knowledge with schools and children and teaching them about the endangered species trees that are there, helping them learn to plant. And then we take the trees into the forest after a year, and they learn to plant the trees in the forest to restore our forests. Oh, that's wonderful. We can't breed without the trees. Without trees, there's no bees. Without bees, there's no food. There's no trees. And I was reading that you have planted 32, what type of trees are these? Ohia trees. Ohia trees. And a number of the Hawaiian ferns and hibiscus. Yes. Wow. Hibiscus, yes. Wonderful. Well, Steve, tell us your position in age pre-preservation. Well, sure. Just as the chief of operations, my job is to come in and help smooth the transition for us getting trees from our various vendors into the students' hands or the children's hands, if you will, and then out into the marketplace where we plan to plant them. Yes. It's just more or less trying to harmonize our efforts and smooth the supply chain across the board. Exactly. Oh, that's wonderful. So how long have you been with the company? You know, actually, I am a newlywed here. So, let's say first of the year, 2018, and I am happy to be a part of it. Okay. So you're in the honeymoon stages? Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Absolutely. Wow. Well, actions of replanting will restore areas that were cleared for farmland and overlogging to bring back the sound of nature's past. Tell us about your goals and your mission. So, our mission is to be able to take farmland that has been used or overused, and now it's eroding, and everyone knows when the land erodes, you know, there are a number of pollutants that come with it. There's nowhere to heal the earth other than to replant a tree, because a tree heals the earth all on its own. And our goal is basically to replant the forest that used to be there before we used it for agriculture and bring back the sounds of nature, the birds, the bees, the trees, the plants, the wind, all those things coming back, and then we share it with everyone else in the community. Or anyone who is visiting Hawaii, we would love to share the wildlife preservation in this area. Wonderful. Well, Steve, so how did you become involved with H.P. Preservation? I actually have a strong background in the supply chain industry, and one of my efforts is to get out and market positioning. I came across the H.P. Preservation via Lisa, and she told me about an opportunity that she was having in terms of some changeover in her staff, and I quickly began to read about it and understand that, you know, as a 501C3 and a passion of mine to get through some other areas and efforts that I do within the 501C3 market, that this would be a nice fit for me. So I happily accept it coming aboard. That's wonderful. You know, this is what I love about, you know, my organization, Hawaii's foremost women's empowerment organization, and we met through an event that you were giving, and this is exactly what's such as empowering Hawaii. This is what we do. We motivate, we educate, and we empower people. And I'm so happy that we're able, you and I, your company, H.P. Preservation Assistance in Power in Hawaii, we're able to come together to continue to motivate and educate the people out there. Yes, of course. And what I really love about your organization, that you involve the children. You're educating them. Tell us a little bit about that. So what we do is every year we do some plantings on Earth Day or either on several other holidays, or Day Earth Day and Arbor Day, and we take trees and a number of endangered species trees, whatever is available at that time, because all trees don't grow the same. And then we take them to the school and we make them available for several classrooms. We teach the children how to plant, how to naturally fertilize, how to water, and then let them grow the trees for the school year. And once the school year is over, we return and we take the trees away from them and on the weekend, they can join us with their parents to help us plant these trees back into the forest, or the parents will just join us and we all plant as an organization and volunteers. Wonderful. What is Earth Day? Earth Day is in May. Oh, it's in May. April and May kind of falls between the two. Okay. And how do you contact the students? Do you visit various schools? Yes, we do. We contact the biology teachers or either the science teachers and we ask them would they like to participate or they can contact us. And they have done so. We've worked with a number of different schools. We've worked with high elementary, high schools, and then, you know, community organizations like football teams, soccer teams or whatever they want. And we bring them the trees and the children get to hold the trees for the year and then we come back and pick them up and plant them in the forest. Oh, wow. Well, why is Coa so important to Hawaii? Coa Wood is one of Hawaii's most precious hardwoods. And I'm not sure if you know, but it's actually almost completely extinct on Oahu. Oh, no. Now, there's other places in Hawaii where we have Coa. But Oahu has seen the greatest depletion and we are working diligently to restore a small footprint and that is very difficult. Well, that's how you start and you have someone like Steve on board that's familiar with getting the word out and marketing. And what is your plans now, Steve? Tell us a little bit about moving forward, moving HP preservation forward. As you know, there's often a challenge with funding and volunteering. Yes. Right. Okay, so just looking at the funding, you have to think about a 501c3 that every year you're almost starting off new again. Exactly. So it's a challenge with trying to raise funds. One of the things that you will hear later on in your podcast is some mention about the Black Panther event that we're doing. Yes. That is one of the ways that we're looking to increase our funding and get more support for things such as the planting of the trees and associated costs and expense around maintaining our equipment and also updating our equipment. The other area of that is in terms of resources. You often need a lot of resources whenever you're working in a volunteer market because you just don't have the funds to pay people. So what we're trying to offset that with is, you know, kindness, and get the kindness if you will. So for instance, during this particular Black Panther event, we're going to be offering our volunteers, and this is the select amount that we will take, but we're offering them just the opportunity to watch the movie for free. Oh, I love that. Yes. And the last part that I would say is you also have to have a major event. We have a major event that we're looking at for the future of HP preservation, which is bringing the Polynesian Caribbean Carnival to Hawaii. So that's an area to help with our funding. And the last part that I would say here is that, you know, partnering with great individuals as well as company brands such as System of Empowerment is going to help us engage and become more visible in the market. So that's how we're going to penetrate the market and improve where we come from to where we're going. Well, I'm glad that you did bring up the fundraising part for our last piece, Kawanda. As you know, our topic is women, wood, and kawanda. And we will show you a flyer that we've made, and we're hosting a pre-screening of Black Panther. It's wonderful. This is so exciting. It's so exciting. It's everywhere. Kawanda. And let me just tell the people a little bit about the Black Panther's Kawanda. Marvel Studios, Black Panther follows T'Challa, who after the death of his father, the king of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated technology-advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. And this is so timely. The audience will see that we have the information up for the Black Panthers, and it's going to be where? It's going to be at the War Theatres downtown, as well as being followed by an after party for Dave and Buster's right next door. So if you're in town or if you're available to go out and purchase tickets, please support us because we really are going to have a wonderful time. It's an extraordinary movie. It's a superhero movie. Everybody has a great time. If you're a Marvel comic fan, come join us. It's going to be great in Dolby Sound theaters, the reclining theaters, and everybody's going to relax. Have a great time. Enjoy the movie. So please join us if you can. Oh, this is wonderful. This is so timely that we're having the Black Panther movie. It's doing Black History Month, and this is the first Black superhero. And Black Panther movie has taken over 50 years for it to come to fruition. And if you read a little bit about it, about this movie that has taken place, you will find out that there are five major elements, Steve, and I'm sure you can chime in on this, that the audience should really notice in the film. And one is the scarf paint. It's called face painting. And when you look at this fabulous trailer, you have a chance to look at it. It's all about exotic and uniqueness, and it's very artistic and it's beautiful. And the second one is about African spirituality. Absolutely. So they have done their research heavily on this movie, and it's about blessings and guidance. And the third piece is the technological advancement. And it's in southern Africa. Did they do most of the filming, Steve? You know, the Black Panther in South Africa? Yeah, I don't have enough details to speak about that. What I can tell you is that there are very recognizable names in terms of Forrest Whitaker and Angela Bassett except that, you know, the pizza that's in this movie, and when you engage in the movie, you don't just get the characters or the animated piece, you get live action acting. And that piece is what's going to thrill me. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to it. I know. The graphics of the movie are extraordinary. And it ties right into the type of lifestyle that we want people to understand. Nature and people coming together, living in one, it's just amazing. I cannot wait to see it come to life. Well, we're going to take a quick break. Okay. And don't go anywhere, Steve. Hang on and we'll be right back. All right. Match Day is no ordinary day. The pitch. Hallowed ground for players and supporters alike. Excitement builds. Game plans are made with responsibility in mind. Celebrations are underway. Ready for kickoff. MLS clubs and our supporters rise to the challenge. We make responsible decisions while we cheer on our heroes and toast their success. Elevate your Match Day experience. If you drink, never drive. Good afternoon. My name is Howard Wig. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on Think Tech Hawaii. We show at three o'clock in the afternoon, every other Monday, my guests are specialists, both from here and the mainland, on energy efficiency, which means you do more for less electricity and you're generally safer and more comfortable while you're keeping dollars in your pocket. Welcome back to Sister Power, our topic for today, women, wood, and Wakanda. And I'm so happy we have Lisa Ekerson here, founder of H-PRE Preservation. Girl, can you make me sound so old when you're saying Miss Sharon? But that's good too. I just love the respect. And we have on the phone, we're so pleased to have Steve Clerkley. He's from Temecula, California. And we're talking about H-PRE Preservation and let's just talk a little bit about your 501C organization. It's a nonprofit organization. Yes, it's a nonprofit organization and we work diligently to restore these endangered species, plants, trees, and birds. But in Hawaii, as you know, nothing's free. So therefore, every single facet of the company is privately funded by private grants and donations and any other generous offers that people like to volunteer or offer. So we have to work extra hard until we get established to be able to show that we are going to be able to have enough funds to purchase a large parcel of land. And that is our greatest challenge. Well, sister in power in Hawaii, Hawaii's foremost women's empowerment organization, we're on board. We're definitely on board. We can't breathe without the trees. And so Steve, tell us a little bit more about moving forward and tell us what media tools do you use to let people know about H-PRE Preservation? Well, I'm glad you asked that, Sharon. And as you might know, our wonderful website is one of our biggest vehicles that we have. But in addition to that, we have to stay in the 21st century. And along with that, we are increasing our efforts with the utilization of Facebook, Twitter, as well as Instagram. And on the forefront of all of those, we're looking to do more podcasts such as the one that you have so graciously allowed us to be on today. And we're thankful for that. Oh, you are. And then we'll build our banner presence and our radio bliss in terms of communicating things again, such as this Black Panther premiere that we're going to be showing. Yes, of course. That's exciting. The red carpet Black Panther movie premiere is Thursday, this coming Thursday, February the 15th, it's a private showing at Ward Theater. And I'm telling you, the tickets are going fast. They are, Ms. Sharon. So if you are interested in coming, please get your seat because every time people think, oh, I got time, they're looking up and there's more seats and there's more seats and less and less available. So if you're interested in coming to join us in this private showing, please buy your tickets soon. I'm so excited about this. It was your idea to say, Sharon, let's have a private screening. I was all on board. You know, it takes me a minute to get on board for something like this because this is new for me to do something like this. But what I love about this, if people can just visualize you're there with your family and friends and the Ward Consolidated Theater and these comfortable, comfortable chairs. Exactly. You have complimentary popcorn. Yes. You're going to have a drink and you're going to have little goodies in our bags. Exactly. We're going to have a silent auction on the side. Yes. And there's a photo booth. We're going to have a photographer there. One of the photographers is Charlie Latham. All right. So we are ready for this. We're definitely ready for Thursday. And tell everyone, I know they can purchase the tickets via Eventbrite. Yes. Eventbrite. So if you see the flyer, you can take a look at the flyer at the bottom. There's a red highlighted stream. Just click anywhere on that stream and when you click on that stream, it'll take you right to Eventbrite and you'll click, click, click. And you're able to be able to purchase your ticket right there online and Eventbrite will email you a copy of your ticket. Well, there it is right there on the screen. Absolutely. It's right there. You just go to either your Facebook page or Sisters in Parliament Hawaii Facebook page. Absolutely. And you can click on that, purchase your tickets immediately and come out and have a wonderful time. And let's not forget about the after party. After party at Dave and Buster's Poo Poo's and Drinks or Derb's and Drinks, whichever you choose. Also, don't forget we are still accepting donations of any type. You can always go to HP Preservation's website. If you can't make it to join us, that's okay. We're also looking for sponsors. So if you want to sponsor this event and continue to support us and grow in the trees, again, you can go to our website. There's plenty of information on there on how to donate and how to participate or how to sponsor. Or you just want to track us and see how these wonderful fundraising events keep happening. We have at least two to three a year. We would love to see if you can't make this one. But definitely keep track of us and join us for another one. Well, Steve, back to you. Where do you see HP Preservation five years, ten years from now? Well established. I like that answer. I think I can answer that question. You can answer that because you've been with him a little bit longer. You're the founder. Let's see. HP Preservation in five to ten years from now. I can start with five. Okay. Five years from now, we hope to have a solid property location. We're really close right now. And so we will be utilizing lots and lots of volunteers to plant our trees and possibly erect our bird sanctuary. Oh, so can you give us a hint where this property is? Just a little bit? All I can say is it's on the north shore of Hawaii. Well, it's here in beautiful Hawaii. Yes, it's in Hawaii. It's on the island of Oahu. But I can't say anymore. Okay, okay. Well, we'll wait for that surprise. And again, Steve, tell them about the 501C3 organization, how this is a tax deductible event for people to attend. Sharon, can you repeat that one for me? Sure. HP Preservation is a 501C organization. It's nonprofit. And we're letting the audience know that their donations or when they attend Thursday, February the 15th at the Red, Copper, Black Panther movie premiere, that they have a tax deduction. Exactly. Absolutely, yes. We can provide our EIN number to anyone that needs that in terms of the tax exempt piece. So that's not a problem. The one thing that we would say is that we want to try and fill this stadium. Our seating is only at a minimum 135 currently. We have the ability to open up another theater, but that has to be done based on us meeting our numbers. So, you know, our folks are slow to get to the gate. And first to talk about there's not enough availability or capacity. We have plenty of capacity. Yes. We just need to see the money upfront. And it's coming in. It's flowing in. I've been getting several phone calls, numerous emails. People are excited. My friends on the mainland, they're already sold out at their private screening. And I said, that's what we will be also. And so, getting back to HP, I love the fact that HP Preservation restores endangered trees, plants, and animals. How did you come up with this inspiration? As a child, I used to feed the wildlife in my hometown. I fed local squirrels, birds, possums, raccoons. Got in a lot of trouble with my family. And that started my love of animals and wildlife. And then as I grew, when I came to Hawaii, I used to drive around the island a lot with my family. And I noticed that we were, once you crossed a certain threshold, it was hot and it was dry and it was sunny. And there was a lot of dust. And I was going, what, why is this? So I began to do some research and I realized that we had a lot of open fields that had been abandoned and they were no longer being used for agriculture, but they were still staying there. And so I did some more studying, got with some more scientists and they explained to me the cause. So we worked together as a team to come up with the concept of restoring the trees. So that is where it all began and it continued to grow from there. And my children are now on board. I have a daughter that's a veterinarian and she is doing her part to study birds and we have another person in our family that's an entomologist and she's doing her part to study bugs. And then we also have a beautiful young lady that's an artist and she paints all the different trees and birds that are available to us. Oh, that's wonderful. And we could go on and on, Steve. We're running out of time in 10 seconds or less. Just leave us an empowering word for the people regarding HP preservation. Yeah, I would say it's an enrichment for both adults, children, women and men in general. Just come out, enjoy planting a tree and helping to save our land. That's wonderful. Well, again, we would like to invite everyone HP preservation. Thank you for coming on, Lisa. Thank you very much. And I'm again your host, Sharon, Thomas Yarbrough, also president and founder of Citizens Empowering Hawaii and we invite everyone out Thursday, February the 15th, as a private screening for Black Panthers. And this would be just a fabulous event for your family and friends. So know thyself, peace, Oceans of Aloha.