Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Kilauea’s unprecedented eruption last year may have stopped, but elderly evacuees from the volcano’s destructive path continue to find a welcoming place at Sacred Heart Shelter in Pahoa on the Big Island.
The complex is made up of 20 small homes, a communal cooking and dining pavilion, and bathroom facilities, all built on a vacant, diocesan-leased lot adjacent to Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa.
HOPE Services Hawaii, an affiliate agency of the diocese, oversaw the project, which came together quickly thanks to community, non-profit, diocesan, and city and county support.
The shelter was blessed June 30 and currently has 15 residents, almost all of whom are retired kupuna. HOPE Services provides a daily hot dinner, and local food bank The Food Basket donates groceries to the residents to make their own breakfasts and lunches, said Kristen Alice, HOPE Services’ community relations director.
Sacred Heart Shelter residents can get donated item like furniture and household goods and receive help applying for rental assistance, looking for housing, and submitting applications for home repair and disaster relief services.
Strato’s Pizza in Honomu has prepared meals for residents at cost for several months, and Tin Shack Bakery, which is next to the shelter, has also donated food at a good price. Sacred Heart Parish, Church of the Holy Cross, Connect Point Church, Hilo United Methodist Church, Christ Lutheran Church and Interfaith Communities in Action, have been among the groups donating and serving meals to the elderly residents.
“We can always use more volunteers to prepare and deliver meals,” Alice said. “If a parish or other group wants to step in and provide dinners for a few days, it allows us to redirect the money to other needs, and gives the hardworking cooks a break!”
The long-term plan for Sacred Heart Shelter after its volcano evacuees residents are permanently settled elsewhere is still to be determined, she said.
“One idea we would like to see come to fruition is converting the use of this project to homeless services,” Alice said. “Before the lava struck, Puna already had a very high rate of homelessness, but people would have to travel into Hilo to receive services.”
She said HOPE Services is working with the county on that conversion and is also hoping to build affordable housing on the same property. The non-profit will be working with the state and with Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation of Hawaii (HICDC), a non-profit affordable housing development organization, on a site plan.
Kilauea’s 2018 eruption lasted 124 days and destroyed 700 homes.
