Posts by Paul Normann
Responding to Disaster 2018
The Puna volcanic eruption began in people’s backyards on May 3rd. Over the next days and weeks more than 20 fissure opened and erupted. Rivers of lava spread across lower Puna claiming homes and eventually whole subdivisions. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed. Thousands of people have been displaced Neighborhood Place of Puna is working…
Read MoreEnding Child and Family Homelessness
In our hearts, we know that children should never experience homelessness! Yet child and family homelessness persist in our community. Data from March of 2018 indicates that on Hawaii Island there are approximately 180 children experiencing homelessness with their families. That amount of child and family homelessness is not caused simply by poor parenting choices.…
Read MoreProtecting Children by Ending Family Homelessness
Children thrive best in a nurturing, safe, stable home environment. Homelessness is neither safe nor stable. It is not an environment that promotes the healthy development of children. In fact, being homeless puts children at greater risk for maltreatment. Neighborhood Place of Puna actively works to end family homelessness on Hawaii Island. Through our homeless…
Read MoreOhana Fuels donates $8179.62 to NPP
Puna Hawaii – Neighborhood Place of Puna was the most recent beneficiary of the Ohana Fuels ‘Fuel Up. Do Good’ program. Ohana Fuels partners with nonprofit organizations that serve the needs of the local community, and donates a portion of every gallon of gasoline purchased at all Ohana Fuels stations in that community. A portion…
Read MoreNeighborhood Place of Puna to benefit from Ohana Fuels ‘Fuel up. Do good.’ program.
Keaʻau, Hawaiʻi – Neighborhood Place of Puna has been selected as the upcoming beneficiary of the Ohana Fuels ‘Fuel Up. Do Good’ program. Ohana Fuels partners with nonprofit organizations that serve the needs of the local community, and donates a portion of every gallon of gasoline purchased at all Ohana Fuels stations in that community.…
Read MoreGenerosity, Gratitude, and Lychee
In a community struggling with poverty – in which many people simply will not have enough money – the greatest wealth we can help people uncover is their self-value. Knowing that one’s life is valuable is a source of happiness. It gives meaning to our lives, no matter what those lives look like to others.…
Read MoreA Willingness to Help
Neighborhood Place of Puna tries not to turn anyone away. We primarily help families with underage children as well as pregnant and parenting teens. We run an emergency food pantry to help the hungry in our community. And we try to provide resources, referrals, and advocacy to those we cannot help directly. In March, we…
Read MoreThe Poverty Trap
As Americans, we are torn between two disparate images of poverty. One is the romantic poverty of Thoreau and Saint Francis, the holy poverty of simple lives. The other is vilified poverty, the poverty of the “welfare queen” and the “bum.” The holy poor live in stories and myth. The vilified poor live on the…
Read MoreMaking a Difference
In a rural community like Puna, physical isolation can be a hurdle to success and barrier to accessing even the most basic of resources. Housing is relatively cheap, but transportation is not. This forces individuals and families who are in poverty and lack financial resource—those who need the most support—to live where support is least…
Read MoreThe Work of Helping Families
A woman came to our office on a recent Friday afternoon. She had one of her sons with her and was on the verge of tears from the emotional strain of living in a car with her children. She had a voucher for subsidized housing and had found an apartment, but the apartment failed the…
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