At the full moon in March, a two-week long Chinese New Year celebration officially ended with a festival of lanterns. Earlier, at the new moon on Feb. 19, Chinatown welcomed thousands of residents and visitors with a huge parade, fireworks and Night in Chinatown street festival. Behind the scenes, families gathered for traditional meals, and parents gave their children red envelopes of money — an ancient tradition.
Many Chinese clubs and societies throughout the Hawaiian Islands gathered to practice cultural and spiritual traditions. Members of Chinatown’s Lung Doo Benevolent Society all speak a dialect that originates from Lung Doo village in the province of Zhongshan, China. Besides camaraderie and mentoring youth in Honolulu, they also helped build a school for kids in China.
Family involvement in developing health services and community supports is also crucial. Historically, care provided in the community was designed to provide services solely to the person with functional or cognitive limitations. In addition, Community services were limited, directed by the organization, and often times did not meet the individual needs of the person seeking help. More recently, recognition of individuals and families as essential partners in the care planning process has transformed the way we deliver care. We now see programs designed specifically for caregivers, such as the new T-CARE pilot project, available through the Maui County Aging and Disability Resource Center. Working together, care manager and caregiver create a personalized plan for the caregiver to better manage their responsibilities, while ensuring their own health and wellness. Caregiver feedback throughout the pilot project will be important, helping to determine whether or not T-CARE can be adopted and made available to all caregivers throughout Hawai‘i. For more information on this project, call the University of Hawai‘i Center on Aging at 808-956-5001 or at 
Join the Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS) this summer to do all of those things by signing up for our 2015 Summer Reading Programs. It’s not only for kids, we have a reading program for everyone including Adults (18 years and older), Teens (middle through high school) as well as Children (pre-Kindergarten through 6th Grade). Simply visit your local public library and register beginning May 31. By popular demand, this summer our reading programs will all run for seven weeks beginning May 3 –July 18.
This summer of library fun is provided free of charge, courtesy of the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and other generous community partners who support and encourage reading and learning at our Hawaii public libraries on O‘ahu and all neighbor islands.
“Dennis Carson Makoto Taira was indeed BBG’s golf hero. Since 1999 BBG sister Susie Taira’s husband Dennis brought in foursomes of his Phi Kappa Pi brothers — often over 10 teams — to support BBG. The success that we have enjoyed these 15 years would not have been possible without Dennis and those many golfers. What a tribute to Dennis this year — to have 180 golfers and so many BBG sisters attend our 16th annual golf tournament. We feel his spirit with us, we miss him dearly and still mourn his very premature passing on May 11. We will remain forever grateful to Dennis.”