MEO board volunteers celebrated for giving back to the community

Volunteers serving on nonprofit boards of directors are “cornerstones,” difference-makers and “the best of our community” said the mayor’s Public Affairs Director Mahina Martin and retired Maui News photojournalist Matthew Thayer during their remarks at Maui Economic Opportunity’s Board of Directors Installation on Friday, June 21.

The 21-member tripartite board, consisting of business, government and clients, was sworn in by retired 2^nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo in a ceremony with an Academy Awards flavor at MEO in Wailuku.

Officers for the 59-year-old nonprofit Community Action Agency are: Carol Reimann, president; Bard Peterson, vice president; Reuben Ignacio, secretary; and Cliff Alakai, treasurer. Their terms run through the 2024-25 fiscal year.

MEO assisted 20,365 individuals/families touching nearly 43,000 lives in the last fiscal year, MEO CEO Debbie Cabebe said. MEO buses on Maui, (including East Maui), Moloka‘i, and Lāna‘i, provided 270,555 rides for 5,774 unduplicated passengers.

A list of accomplishments for MEO in the last fiscal year included wildfires relief, receiving an EV van, staging the second Kamp Kāohi for teens on Moloka‘i, and hosting senior events, such as the Kupuna Aloha Luncheon.

“We are very fortunate to have generous funders, strong community partners, dedicated staff, committed volunteers and an impressive roster of board members,” Cabebe said.

Martin said MEO has been “a true cornerstone of our community” and thanked board members for being “bold, dedicated and compassionate leaders.”“The best of our community always shows up and… are in each of you here through nonprofit work within MEO,” she said.

Standing in for Mayor Richard Bissen, who was traveling back from Washington, D.C., Martin pointed out that $77 million is allocated to Maui County nonprofits in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“We tap into the capable grassroots agencies to expand our support, leverage what we can,” she said. “You make our foundation as a community strong and resilient.

“Our nonprofits support and give hope to our houseless, our immigrants, our hungry, our poor, our children, our community seniors, our residents who want to better their employment opportunities through training and programs.

“Our combined efforts today really reflect on what we know to be our responsibility, our kuleana, to make this place we call home, the people that we share it with and the experiences that we truly live together will become better and be made better.”

Thayer reflected on the impact of volunteers, leaders and board members that he observed while taking photos and covering events for The Maui News. 

“What a difference you make for our community,” he said. “I don’t think Maui could run without our volunteers, people who step up.”

Thayer, who retired from The Maui News in early June, expressed the joy and “chicken skin” he felt from serving on the board of Kihei AYSO and working with special needs youth.

His work as a photojournalist for the last 44 years “was really about the community, about the people, being welcomed, and people telling their stories, sharing their time,” he said. And some of his photo subjects had stories to tell, just waiting to be unlocked by a reporter.

“That was quite an honor” to record their stories, he said.