Ray Reyes, left, with his family: son Joeb-Zaiston Reyes, grandson Mason-Ray Reyes, daughter Xadeisha Reyes and wife Malia Reyes. (Courtesy HOPE Services Hawaii)
By Celia K. Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
More than two decades after it became its own nonprofit organization, HOPE Services Hawaii continues to grow and to broaden its efforts to help people experiencing homelessness on Hawaii island.
In 2024 alone, the agency has made strides in expanding its network of support sites and has also worked to help houseless individuals wherever they are as they face challenges beyond their control.
Earlier this year, HOPE Services assisted people facing a homeless encampment enforcement in Kailua-Kona. The organization learned that Hawaii County would take action at the Kona Community Aquatic Center and prepared to help the 16 people living in the camp there.
Before dawn on Feb. 22, the enforcement day, a HOPE outreach team arrived on site with supplies, food and beverages. According to a press release, the team then “assisted residents with cleaning up their belongings and completed paperwork for shelter entries.”
HOPE only had a few shelter beds available in Hilo, and some of the individuals agreed to go to a shelter. Others declined but expressed interest in the organization’s case management and outreach services.
While the Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation workers and Hawaii Police Department personnel who carried out the enforcement “were patient, served with respect and compassion, and gave people time and space to pack up,” according to the press release, this type of action is not supported by HOPE as it disrupts the houseless individuals’ community and support network.
Less than a month ago, HOPE Services went into the community again — this time to help unsheltered residents ahead of a close call by Hurricane Hone.
A day before the storm passed just south of Hawaii island, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds, HOPE staff members formed small teams and spread out across Hilo. They located residents and offered rides to a storm shelter at Waiakea High School’s gym operated by the American Red Cross and Hawaii County.
More than a dozen people made it to the shelter either with HOPE or on their own.
At the same time, HOPE was prepared with supplies to give to houseless individuals who preferred to wait out the storm. About 30 people chose to stay outside and were offered items like tarps, food, water, flashlights and towels. The teams provided directions to the Waiakea High shelter in case the individuals changed their minds.
On Aug. 25, when Hurricane Hone’s impact was greatest, HOPE Services continued its outreach by revisiting the people who did not go to the shelter “to see how they fared through the night,” CEO Brandee Menino said in the press release.
HOPE Services’ mission is to “make homelessness on Hawaii island rare, brief and nonrecurring.” In addition to its community outreach, its housing-focused services include providing shelter, disaster relief and case management.
HOPE Services was created in 2010 as an affiliate nonprofit organization of the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii, spun off from the Diocese of Honolulu’s Care-A-Van program, according to Kristen Alice, director of community relations. Nearly 130 staff members work across multiple locations on Hawaii island, from Hilo to Kailua-Kona and soon on the Hamakua coast.
In addition to seven established sites, which include shelters, emergency housing and integrated care hubs, HOPE plans to open a new integrated care hub in Hilo this month (Kuleana House) and has signed a lease to convert the convent at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Honokaa into affordable housing for seniors, Alice said. The organization also has an administrative office in Hilo and places individuals in homes throughout the community.
Also this year, HOPE inaugurated its Assisted Community Treatment program, which Alice said seeks to help people “who are unaware they are a danger to themselves and others but need to access treatment.”
This program follows the debut late last year of HOPE’s Street Medicine initiative, which involves visits by medical personnel and outreach teams to unsheltered individuals — again, to bring the care to where they are.
“Our tagline is ‘inspiring hope, changing lives,’ and this is something we see every day in the work we do,” Alice said.
Some of the many lives HOPE Services has helped change are those of Ray Reyes and his family.
Reyes, who works at HOPE’s Kihei Pua Family Shelter in Hilo, said after his family became homeless in 2019, they reached out to HOPE Services. The agency was like a “stepping stone,” Reyes said, and helped them find permanent housing.
“To this day we still (have) permanent housing through HOPE Services,” Reyes said.
“HOPE Services was also a blessing to me and my family,” he said. “When we needed them the most, they were really there for us.”
Now an employee with HOPE, Reyes helps families get into permanent housing.
“One of my favorite parts about my job is having that encounter with the families that are going through whatever they are going through (and) helping them overcome their barriers that are stopping them from being housed,” he said.
“What makes it even better is when I got hired by HOPE Services, I was there just like how (the families) were. It makes me feel real good inside by helping other people, by helping families get housed.”
