Agencies by Category

Helping people who are ill to be comfortable and receive treatment is an essential goal for the benefit of our community. However, assisting families in coping with their loved ones’ traumatic illnesses is also necessary. Preventing illness and halting the spread of disease is best because it precludes the need for expensive treatment later (which costs us all) and trauma to those afflicted, as well as their families.

Kaua`i United Way is proud to support these valuable programs that help the people of Kaua’i lead healthier, happier lives. These programs are crucial to the well-being of large segments of our population and wise investments in our future.

Not many weeks pass by without familiar, poignant images appearing on television or in the newspaper of dazed disaster victims receiving the compassionate attention of relief workers. It is a hallmark of civilization that humans organize to anticipate the enormous needs catastrophes create and can respond successfully with coordinated assistance. People helping desperate people: it’s dramatic, so it’s no wonder that social services receive the most public attention in the aftermath of emergencies.

Everyone who lived through Kauai’s time of greatest need, Hurricane Iniki in 1992, remembers the swift and invaluable help of The Salvation Army of Kaua`i. They were on the scene immediately, ensuring that the people of Kaua`i received the means to get by throughout the recovery. Knowing that these fine organizations are always available to help when needed is comforting.

The Salvation Army of Kaua`i works daily in our community to help people overcome disasters and reassemble their lives.

Not having enough to eat is one of the most elemental emergency situations a person can face. The Hawaii Foodbank – Kaua`i Branch provides food from the nationwide program Feeding America, Oahu, and right here on Kaua`i with home-grown donations of food and money to fight hunger on Kaua`i via a network of food pantries throughout the island.

Disaster Recovery & Emergency Services may be especially dramatic examples of the vital social service work you support when you give to Kaua`i United Way. Still, they are, in a way, much like the many other programs we support. Collectively, they represent the Kaua`i community reaching out to help those in need, helping them to lead as independent, productive, well-adjusted lives as they can… and that makes life on Kaua`i better for everyone!

Rehabilitation Services encompass a range of treatments and support systems designed to help individuals recover from illness, injury, or disability. These services aim to restore functionality, improve quality of life, and promote independence.

Kaua`i Economic Opportunity, Inc. Homeless Program cares for Kauai’s homeless and helps them return to independent living through its transitional housing service.

Mental illness can be successfully treated. Friendship Club in Kapaa provides a supportive, encouraging environment for Kaua`i citizens with serious mental illnesses to achieve social, educational, vocational, and other goals. Friendship Club’s fabulous 50% success rate in attaining client employment is three times the national average! It’s no wonder that Kauai’s Friendship Club is a model for similar programs worldwide.

Easterseals Hawaii—Kaua`i serves individuals and families with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It focuses on person-centered care that helps those served choose their path. Our service centers are located in Lihue, Kapaa, and Waimea.

Mental Health Kokua, through specially designed homeless outreach services and residential settings on Kaua`i, assists people with mental illness – which often co-exist with substance abuse problems – to achieve optimal recovery and functioning in the community.

Healing Horses Kaua`i provides equine-assisted activities and therapies (lessons in groundwork, riding, and driving; camps; horse outreach; and special events) to enrich the lives of people of all ages and abilities, improving their physical, cognitive, social, and/or emotional well-being. Activities focus on balance, coordination, independence, confidence, and communication.

One common thread among all these fine organizations is that they are directed toward helping Kaua`i people live as full, independent, productive, happy, healthy lives as their personal circumstances will permit – in other words, to help them reach their potential and be the best they can be.

When Kaua`i people with disabilities and other challenges can care for themselves, it alleviates others in our community of the burden and costs associated with caring for them. When they are helped to find productive work, they contribute to our society and support our collective needs by paying taxes. When a Kaua`i person is helped to be independent, productive, and well-adjusted, it is a triumph for that individual. But it is also a triumph for their families, neighbors, and the business community. It is, in fact, a victory for all of us. Making life on Kaua`i the best it can be for all our citizens is what Kaua`i United Way is all about.

Many of the programs supported by Kaua`i United Way are designed to help people in times of crisis. These include natural disasters as well as personal calamities, such as the need for rehabilitation services, domestic disputes and related violence, simply not having enough money to pay for clothes, food, rent, or utilities, or the serious illness or death of a loved one.

Other youth services are different. If funding for these youth services were to disappear, lives would not immediately be endangered. Yet, they are vital to the well-being of our community.

Youth services guide our young people to learn and have fun by providing constructive activities and positive role models. Youthful energy that is channeled in ways that are good for our kids might otherwise be spent in destructive behaviors that harm our community and corrupt the development of our young people. Youth services prevent crime and other social problems. They foster fewer unwanted pregnancies and decrease the drop-out rate.

They also help our young people grow up to be well-adjusted adults. Studies have shown that kids who have been actively involved with organized activities growing up are burdened with fewer family and legal problems in their futures than kids who are deprived of them.

These programs also represent the vital ‘prevention’ side of the drug abuse problem. Of course, law enforcement aimed at those who profit by poisoning our people, rehabilitation of addicts, and the reintegration of recovered addicts into our community are critical services. However, it is far more efficient to prevent abusive behaviors before they occur, and that’s where these programs excel. Youth programs are the real “drug abuse prevention” programs. They are unquestionably effective at reducing the demand side of the illegal drug equation.

The Girl Scouts of Hawaii – Kaua`i, Scouting America – Aloha Council, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kaua`i are examples of programs that have successfully guided young people’s development.

The beneficial activities provided by Camp Naue and the many programs made possible by the YMCA of Kaua`i have proven to be very popular recreational outlets for Kauai’s young people.

The Hawaii Children’s Theater offers cultural enrichment and performing arts programs (with the availability of scholarships), which are especially important in our isolated community.

Parents Attentive to Children (PATCH) provides childcare training, referrals, and other services designed to benefit our most precious resource: our children.

Kumu’s Cupboard is a free supply store for Kauai’s educators. It provides supplemental supplies at no cost to K-12 educators in Kauai’s public, private, and charter schools. The store also lends educational materials and has a resource center.

What if you don’t have a child — should you still support youth services? Definitely! The behavior and development of our young people affect us all today and in the future, as well, when they will be our island’s leaders. Helping Kauai’s young people grow into well-adjusted adults is in all our interests.

Within families’ fundamental structures, we care for one another and raise our children. Consequently, helping to ensure that Kaua`i families remain intact, healthy, and durable, with mutually supportive members, is essential to maintaining a strong community on our island.

Many of the problems that occur within every family can be managed without the need for outside intervention. However, we are sometimes confronted with situations beyond our experience and coping ability. At such difficult times, it’s good to know that there are professionals to whom we can turn for guidance. Child & Family Service is devoted to counseling needy families and other programs, such as parenting classes and foster/adoptive parent training. They also help with domestic violence, substance abuse, and family planning. Parents and Children Together (PACT) provides a safe, supervised visitation facility for parents who have split up, as well as intensive counseling for families with children exhibiting behavioral problems.

When families are in disputes with neighbors or others, Kaua`i Economic Opportunity (KEO) Mediation Services can often help. The process, which emphasizes cooperation over confrontation, is far less expensive than the legal system, saving family funds and taxpayer dollars, too!

The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii—Kaua`i provides such broad services to our community that it is difficult to categorize them neatly, but we generally include their programs in our Family Services group. Legal Aid provides free and low-cost legal services to the Kaua`i people, who do not have the financial resources to pay for them, and the Center for Equal Justice provides self-help legal resources.

Catholic Charities Hawaii – Kaua`i is hard at work daily in our community, preventing homelessness. They strengthen Kaua`i families and help them find ways to stay in their homes with adequate food, clothing, and medicines. A small investment in preventing homelessness today is far more cost-effective than treating the many serious social problems that arise from homelessness tomorrow. Keeping Kaua`i families together and strong is a primary goal of several agencies supported by Kaua`i United Way. Your donations to Kaua`i United Way help ensure the social health of our entire community, making life on our island better for everyone!