ORGANIZATION:
Name: Be Ready Mānoa
Address: P.O. Box 61623
Event Co-Chair: Helen Nakano
Phone: 808-927-0993
Email: fair@bereadymanoa.org
Fundraising: Hector H. Venegas
Phone: 808 799-9938
Email: hectorvenegas@hawaiiantel.net
BACKGROUND:
Local community leaders attending a FEMA sponsored course in Mānoa this past November, 2013,
were warned not to expect immediate help from city, state and federal agencies because of distance,
limited personnel resources and funding.
We realized our lack of preparedness could result in loss of life and serious damage to our
infrastructure. Other local communities like Ewa Beach, Kailua and North Shore had already begun
grassroots efforts to protect their own communities. Our Be Ready Mānoa volunteers decided to follow.
In March, 2014, Mānoa became the first urban community to create a preparedness plan.
Mānoa Valley has quite a large elderly population and many other individuals needing extra assistance.
If we do not help the most vulnerable, and even people who had not prepared with sufficient food and
medical supplies, we will experience neighbors fighting with neighbors. In addition, even while not
suffering directly, Mānoa could experience hoards of climate refugees from lower coastal areas of our
watershed seeking food, water and shelter in our valley. This realization is why the mission and mantra
of Be Ready Mānoa is "Together, we prepare, survive and thrive".
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM:
Disaster Blaster Challenge and Be Ready Mānoa Fair is a two-step educational program to create
awareness and motivation for the Mānoa Valley residents to prepare for all natural disasters.
1.
Disaster Blaster Challenge is designed to create a partnership between the schools and
our community. This method of influencing the families living in Mānoa through their children was
successfully applied 10 years ago with Malama Mānoa’s Water Warrior Challenge, followed by the
Kuleana Eco-Fair centered on water conservation. Malama Mānoa received an EPA Award for this
program.
This year, ten area schools (Hokulani, Mānoa, Maryknoll, Mid-Pacific, Noelani, Punahou, Roosevelt, St.
Francis, Stevenson and UH Laboratory) will be participating in the Disaster Blaster Challenge and the
Be Ready Mānoa Fair. They will be adding the Disaster Blaster Challenge to their curriculum starting
August 2014.
“Together we prepare, survive and thrive”
Be Ready Mānoa
Page 2
2.
The Be Ready Mānoa Fair will be held at the Mānoa Valley District Park on Saturday,
September 13, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Isaac Choy and Helen Nakano are co-chairs of the Be Ready Mānoa Fair. Isaac Choy has been a
successful businessman for 40 years, managing his own CPA firm. For the past six years, he has
served as the state representative for District 23, which includes Mānoa. Helen Nakano has been a
teacher, the executive director of a chamber of commerce and presently owns a small business,
Hanafuda Hawaii LLC. As a community activist, she has organized a number of large community
events in Mānoa Valley.
PARTICIPANTS:
There will be wide community participation. Schools, churches and community groups will have booths.
The newly-organized ham radio network for Mānoa Valley will be giving demonstrations throughout the
Fair. City, state, federal agencies, and other NGOs dealing with disaster preparedness, will be
educating the public on all areas of disaster preparedness. These booths will also serve as testing
stations for the Disaster Blaster Challenge. In addition, businesses dealing in water purification,
catchment systems, food preservation, solar lamps, and other equipment will also be selling their
products and marketing their services. We have already lined-up nine musical groups, guest star
personalities, guest speakers and lecturers, who have donated their talents at the fair.
AFTER THE FAIR - FAIR GUIDEBOOK:
The Be Ready Mānoa Team will be sharing the results of this project with the Mānoa community and
with others! As the first urban community in Hawaii to have written: a disaster preparedness plan,
Mānoa is in the spotlight. HPD is using the Mānoa Neighborhood Security Watch network, our Mānoa
NSW Blog, and Be Ready Mānoa website as a model for other communities.
Although the Disaster Blaster Challenge and Be Ready Mānoa Fair will end on Saturday, September
13th, our plans include publishing a fair guidebook to share our experiences with other communities. We
borrowed many ideas from the other communities and we would like to help pave the way for more
communities to duplicate what others and we have done.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FUNDING:
There will be public acknowledgement of your funding. It will be made in all publicity marketing and
advertising of the event. Your participation will be recognized in our program, in our guidebook, and all
other correspondence based in the level of your participation.
“Together we prepare, survive and thrive”