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ASN NEWS &
TESTIMONIALS
November 2009
"Mahalo ASN for not only helping us divert waste from our landfills, but for also helping us network to those community organizations in need such as Boy Scouts of America, Sulinn Aipa engineering coordinator Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas
October 2009 |
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From the Maui Farm Newsletter -Fall 2009 [
www.mauifarm.org ] Aloha Jacqueline, The Olowalu Cultural Reserve would like to applaud you and your agency for the work that you are doing to connect individuals and organizations in the County of Maui with re-usable donations. As a non-profit organization operating on a minimal budget we feel very fortunate to have received a Whirlpool Refrigerator/Freezer, Whirlpool Stove/Self Cleaning Oven, HP DeskJet Printer and Canon Fax/Phone through the Aloha Shares Program. The items we received were in excellent working condition and if not for the awareness and efforts of community members and your program, it is very likely that these items may have ended up in our County Landfill. We are looking forward to a continued "earth-friendly" relationship with Aloha Shares. Keep up the good work! Nani Santos, Project Assistant Olowalu Cultural Reserve | ||||
| Aloha Shares Network and Maui Economic Opportunity Helps Make Pacific
Whale Foundation’s Offices Green
Aloha Shares Network’s (ASN) mission is to keep good, usable materials out of Maui’s overcrowded landfill by redistributing it to local non-profits, churches, schools, and other groups. In so doing, ASN provides invaluable services to the Maui community both by helping to reduce the volume of waste to our landfill and by providing organizations with usable materials that do not over-stretch their tight budgets. Pacific Whale Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to marine conservation, education, and research. With nearly 30 years of experience researching, protecting, and educating the public about whales, dolphins, coral reefs and the marine environment in Maui and throughout the Pacific, the Foundation’s commitments and endeavors are broad and ever-growing. A renovation project began last year to expand the Foundation’s overcrowded offices. One of the top priorities in that renovation was an effort to minimize the Foundation’s environmental impact by seeking every feasible way of making the offices as eco-friendly as possible.
“The furniture donated by Maui Economic Opportunity and Aloha Shares Network was invaluable to us in our renovation efforts,” says Anne Rillero, Pacific Whale Foundation Communications Director. “This gently used, solid wood furniture would have cost the equivalent of approximately $50,000 if purchased new – an impossible expense for a non-profit. It represents a major upgrade for our offices and staff, and, most importantly, it allowed us to reduce our environmental footprint by keeping materials out of the landfill and avoiding purchase and shipping of new items.” Rillero adds that “we were also able to pay it forward with some of the money saved on furniture by offering free whalewatch trips to Maui high school students.” Utilization of recycled furniture is one of many efforts made by Pacific Whale Foundation to reduce the organization’s environmental impact. Other initiatives include use of recycled paper products in the office and on vessels, biodegradable plates and flatware, and use of eco-friendly cleaning products. In renovating their offices, Pacific Whale Foundation incorporated such green features, techniques and materials as LED lighting, low flow water fixtures, Energy Star appliances, a water filtration system to eliminate the need for bottled water, building materials, paints and products made from recycled, low-VOC or low-emission, energy efficient, and/or Forest Stewardship Council certified components, and an architectural design that maximizes use of natural lighting. “We are so grateful to the Aloha Shares Network and Maui Economic Opportunity for providing us with recycled furniture,” says Rillero. “They are both wonderful organizations. I would highly recommend that other Maui groups take advantage of ASN’s services for their own benefit, and to help protect our island home.” ASN solicits donations of all kinds, as long as they are in good, clean, working condition. Items that require mending, cleaning, or repair are not accepted for listing in Aloha Shares Network. ASN is managed by Maui Recycling Group, Inc, and Funded by a grant from the County of Maui Department of Public Works and Waste Management. For more information about ASN (including information about making and receiving donations), visit www.alohashares.org. |
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Aloha, We are very happy with the excellent work that Aloha Shares Network
has done for the non-profit sector and the Maui community. Every
week that we check our email, there are notifications from project manager
Jacqueline Simone Ambrose that someone has chosen to utilize the Aloha
Shares Network and disburse items to non-profits instead of taking them
to the landfill.
Gina McLain
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 Aloha Shares Project Manager Jacqueline Ambrose (second from right) along with crewmembers from the Holland America cruise liner Zaandam crew, and the Ka Hale A Ke Ola & Na Hale O Wainee Homeless Resource Centres dockside in Lahaina Harbor. The occasion was the off-loading of 160 mattresses donated by the Zaandam as the ship installs new mattresses. Destined for the Homeless Resource Centres, the mattresses represent a significant donation. Here's how Becky Woods, Executive Director. characterized this effort: Aloha All, I would like to thank all of you so much for the time and effort that all of you put into the donation of the mattresses. It is amazing to see so many people working together in order to help others. As a non-profit, our agency greatly depends on donations and volunteers in order to provide our clients with basic needs and services. Thank you Aloha Shares, Jacqueline, for your persistence in following through with the project and Holland American Lines for diligently working with Aloha Shares to make the delivery of the mattresses as uneventful as possible… and of course, for the mattresses. Sincerely, Becky Woods
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ALOHA SHARES REACHES OUT TO HANA |
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| October 27, 2008
Aloha mai e Jacqueline, Mahalo nui for your hard work and diligence in keeping thousands of pounds out of our landfills. To date Hana Retreat dba Ala Kukui has been blessed with more than 3000 lbs of reusable items from your organization. These items have been passed on to families in need in the Hana area, and families whose roots are from Hana that now live in Central Maui. Our mission here at Hana Retreat dba Ala Kukui is "to strengthen and enhance relationships among spirit, land, ocean and all life forms they support in our islands and throughout our global community. By sustaining these relationships, we enable LOKAHI (the harmonious balance of life) to flourish. It has been a pleasure and a blessing to be involved with your organization, and we look forward to our continued relationship with Aloha Shares Network, where through our joint efforts we can maintain LOKAHI in our own back yard. Mahalo nui loa,
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| Aloha Jacqueline -
I wanted to say a big MAHALO for the 3 wicker chairs we received from your friend Doug. Not only did he give us the chairs, he delivered them! We are so happy to have them. Our May Day King and Queen will be safely seated on the stage. Thank you for being so helpful. Mahalo, Janet
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| In behalf of Maui Economic Opportunity’s Community Services Dept. and
Kokua Kloset, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for giving us
10 computers. These will be of great help especially to our newly
arrived, struggling immigrant clients and low-income families.
Mahalo, Marcelina B. Adena
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| You have been such a great help. I will definitely pass your
name on to other people and to any non-profits that I know of. You,
and Aloha Shares, are doing an amazing service for this island.
Nora Thoren
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| Jacqueline,
I am writing to thank you very much for all of your assistance in finding organizations interested in our furniture and housewares. Your efforts were instrumental in making our departure for the mainland a smooth one while saving space in the landfill and providing goods for citizens of Maui. Best wishes for the future. MIchael Dahlem Specializing in school, labor and employment law
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| Dear Jacqueline,
Brian visited this weekend as planned, found the refrigerator to his approval, and took it with him. The refrigerator has found a new lease on life! Thank you for making this exchange possible. I would certainly hope to see better awareness of your organization within the community. When we purchased our new refrigerator I called the store and spoke to the sales manager regarding my desire to see it responsibly recycled. His response was very all-or-nothing, we'll take it and send it to the dump, or you're stuck with it. I asked whether they could drop it off another place if I took the onus of making the arrangements, but he said no. When the delivery crew came my wife again asked if they would help out but they repeated their orders. I think it would be a very reasonable imposition on the retailers if the county would require them to at least provide the consumer with a list of organizations such as yours that would be willing to accept donations. Perhaps you have already explored this possibility with the Mayor or county council? Best regards, - Brad Farnsworth
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| just wanted to write you to let you know how impressed we were
with the Aloha Shares program. We had a large amount of brand new
carpeting and pad we needed to donate. I called to explain the situation,
and was told the information would go out to the Aloha Shares “network”.
We received a call the next day from Habitat For Humanity, who said they
could use the carpet. They came the following day to pick it up.
It was great to work with such a responsive organization and gratifying
to know the carpet and pad will be put to good use.
Mahalo, Mark Hoenig
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| Aloha Jacqueline,
I just wanted to say Thank-You so very much for helping one of our Haiku Elementary School families in need. You were able to make connections with individuals and organizations in a matter of days and provide the family with what they needed to get their household up and running. What a wonderful way to connect our community. Thank-you Aloha Shares. Gina Daly
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Aloha Shares Fiscal Year 2008 Summary |
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EMAIL:recycle@alohashares.org |
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Maui Recycling Group County of Maui Maui Recycling Service |
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Working toward environmentally and economically sound solid waste resource programs for Maui County and the State of Hawaii. Click here for information on additional Maui Recycling Group Programs |
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When the time
came to furnish their new, environmentally friendly offices, Pacific Whale
Foundation set out to find products that were as eco-friendly as a non-profit’s
extremely limited budget could afford. Fortunately, Maui’s Aloha Shares
Network and Maui Economic Opportunity came to the rescue with donated,
recycled office furniture.
Furniture
donations from ASN were a major help in this respect. ASN linked Pacific
Whale Foundation with Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO), a nonprofit development
program that provides microenterprise loans, business planning classes,
and consultation services to the residents of Maui County. MEO provided
Pacific Whale Foundation with a generous donation of 15 recycled desks,
as well as a conference table, chairs, shelving units and file cabinets.
All of these items would have been destined for the landfill had not ASN
and MEO worked to find them a new home.
Maui
Mayor Charmaine Tavares, along with ASN Program Manager Jacqueline Simone
Ambrose, (far right) present one of 50 computers donated by the County
of Maui.