 Are you ready for a big schmooze? That's what we got here today. Absolutely. This is Aloha United We Stand, which means that we bring in one of the agencies that deals with gets benefits from Aloha United Way. And today it's the Waikiki Community Center, which has been there since the year 1215. Yeah. And we have the president of the Waikiki Community Center, Carolyn Hayashi. Welcome to the show, Carolyn. Thank you for having us. Nice to have you here. Nice to be able to talk about the Waikiki Community Center. And next to her is Merle Okino O'Neill, and she is the chair of a director of programs of Thriving After 50, which is one of the programs that operates out of the Waikiki Community Center. That's correct. Welcome to the show. Thank you. And finally, we have our model. We always have to have a model. I talk about schmoozing, yeah. We have Marsha Joyner, who is, what, the director? She's a contributor and participant. And a participant. A participant of that same program. And I am Thriving After 50. And you are. I know that because that's been a few minutes with you. You are wonderful. All right. Are we going to have fun yet? Let's talk about the Waikiki Community Center, what it does in general, and what role it plays in Waikiki and in the larger community. Sure. So, Waikiki Community Center is actually the only community center in Waikiki. And we serve a very wide range of groups. Our focus is on kupuna, our kupuna and our keki. And for the kupuna, over 30% of residents in Waikiki are 60 and over. And a great many of those are living without ideal supports, no family or close friends around. So the center is kind of a touchstone and a support place for them. And the other thing we do is we... Are they disadvantaged? Not all of them, but many of them are. Many of them are unlimited incomes. A footnote. Can I make a footnote? I'd like to make a footnote comment. Sometimes I... Okay, Waikiki Community Center is very important to Waikiki because it's the engine of our economy. It's tourism. And you have to retain the social structure of Waikiki and the social safety net of Waikiki. And you guys do that. You do that in a marvelous way. You've done it for a long time. That's my joke about the year 1250. This is actually our 38th year. 38th year. Okay, very important. And you know, the other thing I wanted to just make a digressionary point about is that people think that Waikiki is just a bunch of hotels and restaurants and shops. It's not true. There are real people living in Waikiki. It is a community. And they come on all these years. They still live there now. We actually have, and the reason we have such a large, which is the largest in the state, and I would say probably one of the largest senior populations in the nation, is because we do have a lot of residents that have been living in their same apartments for 30, 40, 50 years. So a lot of what's happening now is they're getting... As buildings are turning over and units are turning over, they're kind of getting pushed out of their long-time residents. And so that's part of what we help our seniors with in the area. When they get pushed out, do you help them find a location? We help them, yes, because they want to stay in Waikiki. So if at all possible, we help them to stay in Waikiki. The friends are in Waikiki. Why would they leave Waikiki? Actually, Waikiki is a good place for seniors because you don't need to drive. The buses are very convenient. It's a walkable area. There's a lot of amenities and stores nearby. So it's actually a good area. What other programs do you have? So the other main program we have is we have a preschool that targets low-income families. And the other kind of statistic about Waikiki is that there are many of our families that reside in Waikiki have children five and under and are low-income. And so these two programs, our kupuna and our keiki, those are the two programs we started with 38 years ago. And although our board and our staff has been open to changing what we do, the demand and need as kind of demonstrated by both the amount of participation we have, as well as data that has come out, new data continue to kind of verify the need for these two groups to be served. You make it possible for a lot of people to work. And we wouldn't be able to work. And there are jobs there virtually across the street, but they're going to be able to work unless somebody can take care of their kids. And as we all know, childcare is extremely expensive. And there are a lot of studies in the early childhood area that one of the very few things that can close the gap between children, the academic achievement gap between children from lower and higher income families is quality early childhood education. Now you're a non-profit. You're funded by various people who give contributions to you as a non-profit. Yes. So we're a 501c3. And a lot of people think that we might be a state arm or agency because we're a community center, but we actually are a private non-profit. We do lease our facility from the state, but we're responsible for all the expenses of maintaining it and fixing it that come up. And we are supported by private donations, by foundations. Including Aloha United Way. Yes, including Aloha United Way. So Aloha United Way has been a great supporter of ours, especially as it relates to our senior program. And I guess we can talk a little bit. Well, I'll talk about your facility then. I want to get to the really delicious part of this conversation. The facility, you have this nice building in the heart of what I used to call, I won't call it any more, but I used to call it the jungle. Right, we remember the jungle. We have an old photo of a wooden building that was on our property that says the jungle on it. And then in the evening, you could actually hear the lions. That's where the name came from. You could actually hear them. It's not that anymore. It's like a concrete jungle now. But now it's a nice holotaub building. I remember it to be one single big room and you could do anything in there. So it was St. Augustine Catholic School and the state bought it during the Arayoshi years. And they wanted it to be kind of a one-stop shop service center for nonprofits. So Waikiki Community Center ended up taking the master lease with the state. And we also have seven other nonprofits on the property that help us to kind of have a whole kind of group of services for people. I used to have a minister who ran the place back a few years ago. But it's not associated with any particular church. It's not, although we have two spiritual-based ministries that lease space from us for their offices and rent space for their services. So it's Waikiki, Hope Chapel Waikiki and Waikiki Beach. So the building is busy. We actually have three buildings. One building is almost exclusively kind of used by Waikiki Health, who is one of our biggest partners. It's a little quadrangle kind of affair. And the Waikiki Health Center is very important too. Oh, critical services that are provided by the center. We share a lot of the same clients. Okay, so you see, that's what we got. That's what we got in Waikiki, the Waikiki Community Center. It's really a community center with real legs on it. It's defined as such, it functions as such. And this is one of the programs, an important program, the Kapuna program. So let's see. Let's talk to you first, Marsha. No, Merrill. Merrill. Let's talk to you first and tell us about the program. How does it work? I should put an umbrella on the program. We were fortunate to be funded by Aloha United Way as part of their poverty prevention program. Of course, our program is basically focused on active seniors, keeping seniors as active for as long as possible in order to prevent any further need for what is called long-term health services. Another way of saying it is to extend the expectancy of active living. Sure. This is all really for people who are aging in place, aging in gray, I call it. Yes. In their traditional home, their condo, whatever it is. Right. They're still there. They're not in any care home anywhere else. They're right there in the community. Exactly. And you want to stay there. Exactly, exactly. And the other thing that we want our program to do is to change the image of aging to one of opportunities rather than limitation to one of assets versus deficits. So this is why we call it thriving after 50. The program is actually constructed on several building blocks. So what I'm going to show you is kind of a model. I had to put the blocks together. So this base foundation is based on a theory of well-being. And I'll get further into it. The secondary foundation, the next part of the foundation, is based on successful aging. And then there is the three components of our program, which is thriving after 50. Can you come for a close-up on this? We want to. And then an outcome is that we have an individual or individuals that successfully age. So if we take the model apart and look at this piece called The Theory of Wellness, psychologists for years and years and years now have studied this area called positive psychology. And what they have identified are five elements of an individual that is thriving. And those five elements are positive emotions, what we generally call happiness and life satisfaction, engagement, meaningful relationships, meaningful activities, and achievement. Now, in all of our programs, so that's an overarching kind of theory that we use when we develop all of our programs. And I have to say that this is the first year of this program. And so we're moving into an existing model and adding enhancements in order to add these elements and making people recognize that these elements exist in every program that they participate in. And by doing that, what happens is the result is that they begin to experience the qualities of thriving. So that's the kind of the thinking behind it. Well, that's philosophical. Right. It's inspirational, but how do you do it? Okay. The reason why we chose this particular theory is because all of the elements are measurable. Okay? Okay. So that answers your question, right? So the second layer is what we call successful aging. And so successful aging is a conversation that has been around for a very long time. And basically what the three components of successful aging is engagement with life, right? High cognitive and physical function and the avoidance of disease and disability. So that's the second component. Now you're going to... Which one is that? The blue? The blue block. Okay. Can we see the blue block? That the blue block. Yeah. Well, you give us a review again of what these blocks mean. Okay. The first one is the theory of well-being. Okay. All five elements are part of the characteristic of an individual that is thriving. Okay. Okay. This is any individual regardless of age, but this particular... How do you do that? I'll tell you about that. This particular program is designed to include the elements in everything that we do. Successful aging is how we see, you know, how do we get people engaged? How do we address the thing called high cognitive and physical function? How do we avoid disease and disability? Okay. And then these three blocks represent the components of the thriving after 50 program, which is employment. Second is volunteerism. And thirdly, civic engagement. And they are on top because you need the ones on the bottom to do the ones on the top. Exactly. Theoretical, measurable, and, you know, outcomes, and then the actual doingness. Okay. So our vision is that after participating in our programs, what will happen is that we will have a thriving senior, right? Okay. Happiness, I mean the well-being theory up to the thriving senior. Okay. So your question is... How do you do that? How do we do that? I'm interested because I'm getting there. Some people think I'm there already. How do we do that? Currently, when we look at the continuum of our population, we have services that help, that support individuals in need, right? All the way to our actively thriving individuals. So Marcia is our actively thriving model. And she'll tell you more about it as she talks about this green component called civic engagement. We have tours, lectures, programs, entertainment. Keep on the move. Yes. And they get to picking cues just like a buffet, you know, of what they feel like they want to do. We have exercise programs that address the whole physical mental... And all this is through and from the Bikini Community Center. Yes, that's right. Exactly. We have lectures on nutrition, preparing, you know, preparing all of your personal... How many active members do you have? Over 500, I would say. 500 kupuna. Well, actually, our technically members, which means we have a small annual fee that you get paid activities less expensively. But I would say the number of people that actually participate in all these programs throughout the year exceeds five or six thousand. Okay. Do they pay something in? Some of the activities have a nominal fee. Oh, but it's the cost of the activity. Yes. It's not the cost of joining or anything. No, but there is a cost to joining, which is $30. $30 a year? For a kupuna. $30. Okay. That's not too bad. It's cheaper than a bus pass. Yeah, it is. It is. It's about two and a half a month. Two and a half dollars a month. Speaking of joining, can we talk to the original joiner here? Yes. You joined. What makes it interesting for you? What makes you a contributor and a participant? I am, by definition, a political junkie. Okay. They can't have an election without... We have a lot of those here at this table. Can't have an election without me. And I have not missed an election since 1958. And I have worked every election, primary and general, since 1972. And I will work again this year. I'm not sure if you can take your glasses off you. Yeah. It's such a good-looking woman. I want to show our audience what we have here. And so what we are doing with this program is what we're calling participatory democracy. And we are introducing our members, whoever comes, to how democracy works. We went on a tour of the city with the city council, the mayor, the managing director. Wonderful. All of those people. And everybody talked to them how a bill becomes a law. And then we went to the legislature and met lots of people. And they're very agreeable. You know why? Because Kupuna, in general, are old enough to vote. And as luck would have it, we had one of the executives from Maui County. And he looked at all these white-haired people. And he said, you know, whenever legislators look at white hair, they get scared. Because they know those people vote. They know they will turn out. And they talk to each other. And they talk to each other. So we are starting a project that we will work beginning tomorrow. Yeah, beginning tomorrow. Tomorrow, yeah. And about the legislature and working with the legislature how a bill becomes law, they will learn how to write a bill, how to follow the bill, how to move it around, meet all of the legislators, and do all of the things that scared the bejesus out of the legislators. When I was quite young, we lived in Makakilo and there was no fire station because Makakilo was brand new. So the truck had to come up from Barbara's point. Makakilo was about that big at the time. And so I decided we needed a fire station. So I took my baby and we drove all the way to town to the city council. And I introduced and said I want a fire station, not knowing a thing. So I sat next to this lovely, lovely lady with a pretty pink suit and a white hair. You know the look. And she was from the outdoor circle. And I said, well, how is it that you get everything you want and so many other people get nothing? And she said, because we're here. They don't cut people that watch them. We're here. I said, oh, okay. So after that I bundled up my children and every day we drove every day to town. And we sat there and watched them. And now we have a fire station. That's a great story. I said, that's all I have to do is show up. And she said yes. That's it. So you guys talk about modern current politics. I mean, has anybody in the group of what, 500 or so, ever expressed an opinion, for example, about Donald Trump? I'm sure they have. We try not to be partisan. We try not to. I'm sure there are people. You think they're going to vote for him? I don't know. I don't know. I have not a clue. That's beyond my pay rate. I really want to stay with our own legislators and our own city council people. The ones that, way in Hawaii, I think, now I'm not sure, but I think we're the only state where every elected official's telephone number is listed. Their doors are not locked. Where you can meet them and get to know them. And that is such a plus that you get to meet real people. Well, this is built on the notion, I get, you know, your organization, so this program, is that it's better to age in place. It's better to be home. It's better to have friends. It's better to have a gathering place, which the Waikiki Community Center provides for them, which is a real Mitzvah means quideed. And it's better to stay active. And the more active, the better. As much action as you can possibly tolerate. Just keep on offering the smorgasbord. Yep. What do you call it? Buffet. I call it a smorgasbord. Yeah. And if they can keep up with me, then we're good. And if they can keep up with Marsha, then we've got a winner. We've got a winner. Another important element, you've got to have energy. You've got to have leadership. You've got to demonstrate, you know, leading by example. Exactly. We can do this kind. And I think that sounds like what you offer. We are pleased to have this opportunity, the facility, the people that want to do that we can, that they can offer all kinds, all sorts of programs that you don't have to take just one. Yeah. You can take them all if you want. Are there other organizations in the community like this, you know, Fukubuna, that are like you guys? I don't know. There's other community centers that we all do kind of slightly different things and have different approaches. I think one of the things that's a little bit different about this program from what we were doing previously is that we talk about active. It's not just physically active and socially active, but really like giving life meaning, having a purpose. And so we do that through, this is the three-prong of volunteerism, employment, civic engagement, you know, pick one, pick them all. So like for instance, for Marsha, that's the civic engagement is her passion. Right. You know, we're trying to encourage people like find your passion and be actively engaged. What about the jobs now? You mentioned in the outline that there are jobs here. Right. And jobs are good for you because jobs give you an identity. Yes. You know, inherent in every job is there's somebody at the other end who wants you to be there. Yes. Who cares that you are alive. That's also related to having purpose as well. So how do you get people jobs? So before we go there, can I just mention that the reason why the three pillars, the employment, the volunteerism and the civic engagement are part of the foundational pieces that we work on in our programs is because there are hundreds of studies that demonstrate that when individuals, seniors or otherwise, are involved in these kinds of activities, it brings about the thing called meaningful life. So, and we also know that in the employment area, there are many seniors that can use the extra income. What kind of jobs? We're partnering with elite parking. Parking attendance. No, it's that and it's more. And what they have found, and maybe you can tell them the story of, you know, your conversation with Ryan about employees. So we have, we have this partnership with elite, but we also are in the process of developing partnerships with other employers and, you know, unemployment in Hawaii is quite low right now. And a lot of these companies that are growing are hard. It's difficult for them to get staff. And some of the, when they were, I guess when HR and elite and some of these other companies have been talking to were evaluating like, who are some of our really star, you know, dependable employees that we would like to emulate. And a lot of what they found was it was some of their older employees. And although, you know, like. Who know this, they understand. Well, come at nine o'clock and work to five. I understand. They are dependable. Three minutes left. But I wanted to ask you the other side, the flip side to this whole discussion. And that is, you know, you have the community center offers a great mitzvah for the Kapuna. And you have you guys who offer energy, leadership and a smorgasbord buffet. You know, so I mean, this is a wonderful thing and hard to do, but huge benefits for the people involved, huge benefits. Give some quality of life. Right. But, you know, when you get older, sometimes it's hard to hold on to that. And sometimes that, you know, the frailties of age, the realities of aging, you know, slip in and people, you know, they may lose their ability to participate. Right. How, how, it's a hard question. How do you handle that? How does your organization handle that? You're offering these things and members, I mean active members one day, maybe they can't be active. How do you handle that? So we do have case coordination and case management services. What, person by person? Yes. That we work one and one with people for those who are in danger of losing their independence, becoming frail, becoming isolated. Yeah. So we do have that side of the problem. And part of it is to keep them from being isolated, right? To even, no matter what, even if they can't do all of the things, but to keep them engaged, to keep them from being isolated. Because if they become isolated, that's when the health issues come. That's right. So the idea is to keep them engaged, to keep them a part of the community and making them feel that they are of value. We have, the American society is a throwaway society and they throw away old people. Well, they do. Right, right. And so, you know, so what? They're not going to do that to you guys. No, they're not. So the idea is to keep them engaged, to keep them feeling like they are of value. It is awful that people, employers throw them away when they have amassed this huge volume of knowledge and experience. And good temperaments and all of that. So the idea that of all of these put together keeps them from being isolated, keeps them. So what I get out of this is that the program is intended to keep them active because your quality of life day-to-day is better. But there's another element also. And that is if you're active, you tend to stay active. If you're active, you tend to stay engaged. It's a cycle. It's a spiral. Yes. At the end of the day, you live longer. Right, exactly. And every day is better. What's not to like about that? It's the direct connection between the qualities of well-being and longer life expectancy. Okay, we're going to have to leave it. We're going to have to leave it there. Can I say just one little thing? Well, we're over time, but go ahead. Okay, I want to say that. For all of these people, say the Lord's Prayer, right? I'm not going to preach. But there's one sentence in the prayer that says, give us this day, our daily prayer, not tomorrow, this day. And if we take that and live this day because that was the gift we asked for, that's what we got, we can have a lot more this day. That's a great closing and a great point. That is Marcia Joyner. She's a contributor and participant in the Thriving After 50 program. And the chair of that program is here too. And that's, I'll get your title right now, Merle Okino O'Neill. Also the Thriving After 50 and the Auntie. The President. Who takes care of all of this. Okay, this is Carolyn Hayashi. She's the Executive Director President of the Waikiki Community Center. Thank you so much, all of you. Thank you. And for what you do. Thank you for having me. Dad, this is a real pleasure.