Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs

by Amy Kamakeeaina-Bird

It has been a very full, exciting, and fun-filled year for our newly formed club. Kansas City has been a well established city for displaying an overall array of events for our Polynesian population. As a club we are fortunate to be able to involve club members in numerous events throughout our region to participate and to perpetuate our culture.

Raytown, MO - Club members attended Nick Nicholl’s Wood Carving Workshops where he gave us skills to produced the to’ere and the Tahitian drum & etc. Uncle John Kaiahua who is our HCC Treasure taught us about organic gardening on a large scale and what it takes to work the 'aina. His home is a place where we can see the kalo grow and smell the fragrance of the plumeria tree. Lastly, Aunty Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson our HCC Club Correspondence Secretary has been instrumental in coordinating our community efforts. She offered a spot for our HCC club and a Halau to work side-by-side at her shave ice booth at the Ethnic Enrichment Festival in Kansas City, Missouri.

One must be involved to learn, is our attitude. Even if you go to take pictures we get to experience what it takes to involve our keiki’s or mo'opuna’s with the teachings of their culture. We hope to gain more knowledge on other organizations in our community and what they do to kokua. Most importantly we need to learn to cooperate and just get along with each other.

With sufficient skills we can first learn, teach, share, and unite our people. Our direct association with the community has not only given us the enthusiasm to want to learn more about our homeland but to also contribute to others that are less fortunate. On the other hand our club priority is to increase our membership and populate our state w/ more clubs. One of the highlights this Summer was to experience a newly written hula choreography performance. What an awesome time that was!