 Thank you for joining me on Think Tech Hawaii. I am Shayna Park, your host for Money Talks. July is National Bereave Parents Awareness Month, a month dedicated to a parent's journey through bereavement after the loss of a child. Today, I will be interviewing my mom, Shonda Park, where she will explain her journey after losing my sister, Azalea. Hi, mom, welcome to the show. Hi, Shayna. Thank you for having me back again. Always great to be having you on the show. So in the slides that we have, my sister, Azalea, and I would love for you to share more about her story and explain your journey. Sure, we can bring up the first slide. It hasn't gotten easier speaking about what happened, but Azalea is my oldest daughter and she was on her way to the first Christmas light show at the Stadium Mall, December 18, 2020. And as she was walking in the crosswalk, she was struck by a drunk driver who actually fled the scene after hitting her. And she was pronounced brain dead three days later. She was only 21 years old with her whole life ahead of her. She was beautiful, joyful, giving, just a wonderful, wonderful human being. And we all miss her so very much. Yes, we do. And with everything that had happened with Azalea, I would love for you to share your journey and how life has been after her passing. Well, through this tragedy and in honor of Azalea, Safe Ride Hawaii was born. Safe Ride Hawaii is a nonprofit organization with a mission to save lives by providing services that take intoxicated drivers and their cars home safely in honor of Azalea's legacy of living a life of love, joy, and contribution. And Safe Ride Hawaii aims to live in a world where driving under the influence is non-existent. Yes. And I know this Safe Ride Hawaii as well as it is a nonprofit, right? Yeah. I did this in honor of Azalea. And I feel that this nonprofit is a way to help change the world and help change the way how Hawaii is. But can you share some DUI statistics with us? Yes, of course. Let's see. Well, ever since this happened, I've been working very closely with mad mothers against drunk drivers. And Teresa Paulette has been very supportive. She basically runs this island for this program. And I got some statistics just off of their website. So it is still the number one cause of death on our roadways. Drunk driving is still the number one cause of death. And every day 926 people are injured or every 90 seconds, someone is injured in a drunk driving crash. When you talk about deaths, every day, 32 people are killed in drunk driving crashes, or every 45 minutes, someone is killed. Well, those are some pretty high statistics. And I know for Hawaii alone, we get a little bit better, but it's not like we've made a huge dip in the DUI statistics. So, you know, moving forward, like generally how much does it cost after you get a DUI? It's a lot. And when you think about the amount of people that it affects, another statistic on the mad website says that two out of three people will be impacted by drunk driving in their lifetime. So when we talk about the person, I guess the offender, the person who is driving under the influence, the first offense, they can have 72 hours of community service, 48 hours to five days in jail and pay $250 to 1,000 in fines. So that's for the first offense that, that's quite a bit of money. And when you're not just talking about the money, but you're talking about hours spent doing community service and hours spent in jail away from work, that's all time and money that is costing a person. And that's just the first offense. So say you have repeat offenders. Now for the second offense, it's a two to three year license revocation, one to $3,000 in fines and either five to 30 days in jail and then up to 240 hours of community service. So it's a lot. Yeah, that does sound like a lot. And of course, drinking and driving when you go out, you wanna drink responsibly and not be in a position where you're gonna be in a financial dip because of one split second. Anything could happen in one moment. So I think that's why you've created Safe Ride Hawaii to drink responsibly. Yeah, and I do feel that if there were stricter laws from the beginning, then it would really minimize repeat offenders. So with the third, if there's a third offense, it's five years in prison or five years of probation, which includes a three to five year license revocation, 2,000 to 5,000 in fines and at least 10 days in jail and then having to complete substance abuse counseling and a driver's education program. So again, when you think about all this money that a person ends up having to pay by driving under the influence, Safe Ride Hawaii, like I said earlier, we provide services that take intoxicated drivers and their cars home safely and our charge is only $2 a minute. So when you look at the main area, which is Honolulu, a lot of people, they are at establishments maybe on average just about 20 minutes away from their home. So you're looking at a $40 cost to get home safely and we are not in competition with Uber, Lyft, the cab. We encourage people to plan ahead, plan your ride ahead, not even drive if you know that you're going to be drinking. However, there are still people that will drive or maybe they're not expecting, maybe they're expecting to be a designated driver and somehow they end up becoming intoxicated themselves. So for this, there's basically no excuses. It eliminates all the excuses, right? Because this is 100% preventable. So our service will then take that person and their car home safely. There's a chase driver behind that will pick up the driver that drove the intoxicated person and their car home safely. Yes, and thank you for sharing everything that you just did because it does make sense. And of course we want to plan accordingly. However, things happen and I like how you said, this way there's no excuses. We are here to just provide service and to make sure everyone gets home safely. And to go more into how much it costs, I know once you do get a DUI, you usually have to get things installed into your car and attorney fees. So could you explain the cost for all of those as well? Yes, of course. So a lot of times people will end up hiring an attorney because of course they're fighting the DUI, they don't want this on their record. So the average costs, I would say it's around $5,000 just to hire an attorney. And then there is that ignition interlock, also known as the car breathalyzer. And so then the person would be ordered to install that into their car taking their own time out of their schedule and all out of pocket for the cost because people still need to get to work. And I know this because of course many people have friends or family that has experienced having a DUI and so through that process and other people sharing this is how I know about what they had to go through and the cost of the attorney, the car breathalyzer and all of that just taking the time out to go to court and just missing work, the jail time, all of that, the time all adds up to loss of money, loss of income, whatever the money that is being dished out for the cost, right? Of something that could have been prevented. Yes, yes, exactly. And going out with friends, having a few drinks, it is always such a good time. I love going out, but to plan ahead because in one split second, like you said, you don't wanna be spending $5,000 in lawyer fees or having that on your shoulders. So with Safe Ride Hawaii and like you shared, it's great that you are making sure that there are no excuses anymore. So besides what it costs for getting a DUI, what about the costs for the victims and the costs for the families who has lost a loved one? Well, I mean, of course, if it's a person who was just injured, again, for that person, there's time away from work if they're at that age that they're working. So it's loss of income, hospital bills, and recovery. It's a lot of expenses that a person can incur. And if it's someone like us, if it's a family like us who actually have lost a loved one, when you talk about the celebration of life and all of that that comes immediately after the death of a loved one, it's costly. And it's not just about the financial part, it's the cost of the whole entire strain on the family and emotionally and mentally. Just I'm lost for words right now. And I think a lot of times we hear through the news or social media about a DUI incident, but it never has follow-up stories of how much it will cost for the aftermath. And the reason why I was asking about the costs for the victims and the costs for people who have lost their loved ones is because when someone does pass away so suddenly and so tragically, did we have that time to prepare or did you have the funds saved up? And it's very, very expensive. And I know if you don't mind sharing through your experience, just within when Saley had passed, how much money did you have to spend right away because it was so sudden that we just had to pay. We had to pay. It was a lot upfront because of the funeral service and everything else that came after getting the niche and all of that. There was a lot of upfront costs because we're not going to wait for insurance payout and things like that unless you have some kind of final expense plan that pays out within 48 to 72 hours. If a person doesn't have that type of plan, a regular type of life insurance could take months to pay out. So of course, people don't expect to lose a child and having that set aside with that in mind that something will happen to a young, healthy individual. Yes. And I think what you just shared too of planning ahead and planning ahead in all aspects, not just going out for a drink and finding a ride but planning ahead financially as well of the what-ifs and it's really not the most attractive topic that people like to talk about, right? No one wants to talk about a loved one passing or even death in general. However, it is a very important topic because it's also inevitable. And the sooner I feel that you plan ahead, the sooner you have to have that financial stress and worries. Yes. And we can talk more about the slides that I have so we can bring up the next one. And so through again, through the tragedy, we just want to do work out there that's helping to prevent other families from having to go through what we have gone through, Shayna. And out there spreading the word, there's many events that had reached out to us such as Aloha by Volume and a huge event with the Kailua Fall Festival. I want to say there were probably over 12,000 people there. So it's just us getting the word out that this service is there for people. And again, just raising awareness and letting people know that there are options. Yes. And I know we have more slides too of you getting out there and not only sharing at events and being of service at events that we get invited to but also the education aspect and bringing awareness to drivers' education classes. Could you share more about that too? Yes. So there's Wang Wei driving and he was very generous in offering to support Safe Ride Hawaii and having us go in to his program and do the DUI portion of his curriculum. So there's Ampai Champaton, my other half. He and I went in and taught that portion of the curriculum for the drivers' eds. So these are high school students. It was actually a very huge, huge class. I want to say there were probably about 70 students. And I know that because it's a personal story it really touched the students there. I could tell that they were affected by it. I actually met a mother whose daughter was in the class and went back to tell her the story. And of course she said she knew about it because we know each other. So she personally knows our story as well. So when we're able to share, especially with young adults and teens, I really feel that it's already educating them, raising awareness, letting them know that, hey, even your mom knows somebody that this happened to. And of course she doesn't want this happening to her own daughter. So the driver's ed is a great way to get our children educated about just the effects of what can happen when we are not taking responsibility and learning how to take responsibility at a young age. Yes, and I'm so glad you were out there and spreading Azalea's story and how it could be preventable because we do learn about these things. I took driver's ed as well and it does make a difference about hearing a personal story. So I hope in the future you're able to go to more schools and hopefully go back to the long way of driving, but... We are still going to be part of his curriculum, which I'm very grateful for. And honestly, I feel that it shouldn't just be with people that are under the age of 18 and if they want to get their driver's license, right? I feel that it should be for all ages, for every person who's going to get their driver's license, I truly feel that investment in driver's ed, which I believe it's only under 600. I know it's maybe about $550 for the course. And I feel that it should be mandatory for everyone to take driver's ed before getting a driver's license. So the person that killed Azalea was only 21 years old himself. And I'm not sure maybe he didn't have the education or perhaps just didn't care. I'm not sure, but I just feel like if this could get to everyone before they drive so that they can understand and be more responsible. Yes, I agree with you 100%. And I know you do have more slides though, and I really would love for you to, you know, share more about you getting out there in the community and how, in other ways that you're educating others, not only in driver's ed, but in all other places. Well, we had a sign waving just five days after Zalea was pronounced dead. And so this was in 2020, the day after Christmas. We did a sign waving and we decided to do one every year. So we did it in 2021 and 2022 as well. So the last one that we had, December of 2022, we had the Hawaii State Senator Brandon Elefante come out and join us. So it was an honor to have him there, along with many family, friends, even strangers, supporters that came out to help us. Because we're really in this together as a community. It's not just about me and what happened with us. And Azalea, it's so many more families out there that this has happened to. And even if it hasn't, it's something that could happen to many more families that we want to work together to be able to prevent other families from suffering the way that we have. So, you know, that's what we're out there doing. And we even went to have a visit with the mayor, Rick Blangeardi. We did that the day after Thanksgiving last year. And just seeing how we can work together to really get safe right away out there to provide the service for every single person that needs it and for them to, you know, be aware and just know the options that are out there for them, that they know that no matter what, even if they drove, you know, even if they didn't plan ahead, there are options out there that every single person can get home safe. Yes. And, you know, thank you for sharing that. And, you know, it's amazing how you get out there. And, like, even after Azalea had passed, you know, your mission was to just solely spread awareness of what's going on and how this is 100% preventable. And even after Thanksgiving, it really doesn't matter what occasion it is. I feel like this should be something that's talked about, it's a normal thing. And, you know, with that said, I know we had an event this past Saturday and I would, you know, love for you to get into it and share about what we did and the outcome of it and our why. Yeah, so we had our first fundraising event of this kind and it was with Chef Eric Pasquale from San Francisco along with Lenai, who is an Emmy Award winner for his Cooking Hawaiian Style show. And they collaborated, had a sit-down dinner, six course, and telling the story about the migration to Hawaii. So all the different ethnicities here. And we had about 70 participants attending the dinner, many, many volunteers. I want to say maybe about 30 volunteers. So it was just an amazing event. But with that all done and over, we still have our silent auction, which will stay open online for a few more days. So if there's anyone else out there that wants to support, you can go to our website, saferidehawaii.org. And our silent auction link is on our website, so saferidehawaii.org. And when we, you know, we talk about this being in this together, that was the name of our event. And we really are. Again, it's not, it's beyond us and Azalea and what happened to our family. It's about everyone. It's about the community. And just imagine a world without drunk driving. Our country would save 132 billion in costs each year. Wow. And I don't know if everyone can wrap their head around that number, because when you say 132, it sounds small. And many people can't even wrap their head around billion, right, but 132 billion of costs each year. And that's what we would save if we live in a world without drunk driving. Yes. Yes. And with the event that we had this past weekend, it was incredible. And just to see people enjoying themselves and having a great time and knowing that they're all gonna get home safe. So, you know, I think the purpose too of this conversation that we're having is to say it's okay to drink. You know, it's okay to drink. A lot of people do it. It's fine, but just drink responsibly and have a plan. And with this past event that we had, I've seen everyone having the time of their lives. And, you know, on our end, I was so happy to see that they all got home safely because they planned ahead. So, I think, you know, moving forward, that's the conversation and that's what we really wanna express to everyone. Just drink responsibly. Yes. I called every person that was attending the event to make sure that they had a DD or they had, you know, carpooling, had a DD, or going to Uber. And if not, I told them a safe ride is going to be provided for you. Not do you want one. Because I said no one, absolutely no one is drinking and driving from this event. So, if all event planners could do that, it would make a huge difference. Yes, yes. And we are here for that service and we are here to just change the world and change, you know, the fatalities of what's going on. But, you know, thank you so much for being on the show, mom. I'm really grateful for your time and you sharing your story and Azalea's story and our journey. I feel like this was such an important topic to have. Thank you. Thank you. Hope to see you all at the next episode of Money Talks. I'm Shayna Park, your host, a Gen Z inspiring lives of liberties. Thank you. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.