The State of Hawai‘i, Department of Transportation, Airports Division has prepared a Final Environmental Assessment for improvements at Kalaupapa Airport.

A ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of when the first 12 people were sent to Kalaupapa in 1866 will be held at Hoaloha Park in front of the Hawaiian Canoe Club hale at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2015.

A portion of New York’s 33rd Street was co-named Father Damien Way today after the 19th-century Roman Catholic Priest from Belgium, who is recognized in Hawaiʻi for is work with Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa on Molokaʻi.

A traveling exhibit featuring 100 photographs of the remote Kalaupapa region on Molokai opened recently. The exhibit honors ancestors of the region through the images of family members.

Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva said that Hawaii is now “twice blessed” after the canonization of St. Damien, and now the canonization of Cope. Mother Marianne left a legacy of health care, education and spiritual nourishment in Kalaupapa on Molokai where she spent 30 years, serving Hansen’s disease patients.

Representative Mele Carroll of Maui introduced a Senate Bill aimed at transferring Kalawao County to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL).  Kalawao County, which encompasses the historic Kalaupapa settlement for Hansen’s Disease patients on Molokai, is currently under the ownership and management of the state department of Health and the Department of Land and Natural... Read more »

A series of Kalaupapa family workshops begins this week to help people find information about ancestors that were forcibly relocated to the remote Molokai community.  There were an estimated 8,000 individuals who were sent to the Kalaupapa Peninsula between 1866 and 1969 because of government policies regarding Hansens disease. The meeting times are as follows:... Read more »

A bill that would authorize a memorial for thousands of Hansen’s Disease Patients on the island of Molokai, has cleared a vote in the U.S. House and now awaits the president’s signature.The item is part of a larger Omnibus Public Land Management Act that was passed by the house in a 285 to 140 vote... Read more »

U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka today voted to support the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 (S. 22), a bipartisan package of over 160 bills that includes legislation supporting the establishment of a memorial honoring Hansen’s disease patients of Kalaupapa.  The bill also supports funding in the amount of $5 million over 10 years... Read more »