Maui Photographer Provides Relief for Kauai Flood Victims

Aubrey Hord Photography is a proud Business Member of 1% For the Planet. We take responsibility for the health of our planet by donating 1% of annual sales to environmental nonprofits creating positive change. We donate to environmental organizations based in Hawaii on a quarterly basis.

Our studio has selected the Waipa Foundation in Hanalei, Kauai for being the non-proift recipient for this quarter's donation. The island of Kauai and especially the area around Hanalei has been devastated by recent heavy flooding events and we wanted to help them recover so their non-profit can continue to thrive.

The Waipa Foundation is a Native Hawaiian cultural learning center located on the north shore of Kauai. The Waipa Foundation non-profit organization which sponsors a program called ʻAina Ulu (in the Hawaiian language), funded by Kamehameha Schools. Its programs grew out of community efforts to manage the ahupuaʻa of Waipa in the late 1980s. The Waipa Foundation was established as a 501(c)3 non-profit in 1993. A little more information was gathered from Wikipedia. 

Program & Mission

The foundation makes its home in the ahupuaʻa of Waipa, a valley on the north shore of the island of Kauaʻi in Hawaii. The Waipa stream flows through the valley and empties into Hanalei Bay. An ahupuaʻa is an ancient Hawaiian land division from mountains to the sea, often corresponding to a watershed district. It was used in traditional Hawaiian times as a way to distribute the resources of the land to the people. The mission of the Waipa Foundation is "the physical and cultural restoration of the ahupuaʻa of Waipa".

Ecological Restoration

The restoration project at Waipa foccuses on human interactions with plants and land. There are three types of sites. The first is native reforestation. Some of the plants being out planted are Acacia koa (Koa), Dodonea viscosa (A'ali'i), Munroidendron racemosum, Pritchardia spp.(Loulu), and Microlepia strigosa (Palapalai). Some sites feature Polynesian introduction plants, such as Piper methysticum (Kawa) and Cordyline fruticosa (Ti). These plants all have value in Hawaiian ethnobiology. The last designation of restoration sites is agroforestry. Waipa is planting fruit and timber trees to satisfy this category. All of the agroforestry plantings are plants with commercial value. They can be harvested and sold as well as provide food and medicine. By planting the trees, Waipa community is rehabilitating the land as well as providing for the community.

Upcoming Events - How you can help the Waipa Foundation 

Join us this Saturday, April 28th to help clean up after the flood. We will be working from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon, followed by lunch on us!  (Please RSVP to keahidaly@gmail.com so we can be sure to have enough food for everyone). We will meet at the Waipa poi garage a little before 9:00am and we will all walk to the site together. Please bring tabis/boots, a water bottle, sun protection, rain gear, a towel, a change of clothes, and your aloha. Also, we would love folks to bring out chainsaws, weed whackers and hedge trimmers to help us get the job done faster. But no worries if not -- there is plenty to do with your hands. Bring your friends, neighbors and the whole family!

To donate or learn more information about the foundation please visit their website http://waipafoundation.org.