For 125 years, Palama Settlement has been a beacon of hope in a disadvantaged neighborhood with pioneering programs that elevate the lives of the poor and have a critical impact on youth.
The nonprofit began in Liliha in 1896 as a chapel, but its groundbreaking work in providing health, educational and recreational services was driven by social workers James Arthur Rath and his wife, Ragna Helsher Rath, several years later. The milestone anniversary will be celebrated Saturday with community festivities (delayed a year due to COVID-19 disruptions).
A capital campaign will also be launched to renovate its historic buildings and update its programs so the kids are well-equipped to face the future, said Sam Aiona, Palama’s executive director.
“My most important goal is to make sure Palama Settlement continues to be a safe haven for the kids and seniors of our community,” he said.
“So many people I’ve spoken to, it seems like everyone over 50, has been touched in some way by Palama Settlement. It is amazing how many people tell me they’ve used the dental clinic to get their teeth fixed for 10 cents. They played sports in the gym; they would come here for sewing, or hula, and it is not just the community, this is islandwide.”
Palama, which relocated to Kalihi in 1925, also has to be ready to step up when the next pandemic or crisis hits. When COVID-19 shut down its programs for two years, it still distributed food to 6,000 families, much more than the normal prepandemic number of 1,000, he said.
Longtime mentor
If anyone has witnessed Palama’s impact from a front-row seat, it’s been Duval Dutro, who has been working at Palama since 1968. Now 70, he has lived on its grounds as a staffer since 1975, raising five children with his wife, Yolanda.
Dutro started out at age 16 working with the kids as a summer job and soon took on sports coaching and counseling. He’s long been in charge of caretaking the facilities and grounds, and has served as a jack-of-all trades who fills in wherever there’s a need. He’s oversees maintenance, security, the kitchen, locker room and game room. He was also the cook until the late 1990s when Palama began hiring food vendors. He’s in charge of renting facilities to families and community groups, and has witnessed special gatherings over 50 years.
In 1971, Dutro was hired to counsel some 60 teenagers who were on probation for violating the law. He became like a second father to some of them, but realized he couldn’t make a difference to those who made no effort to better their lives.
“I found out early, you can’t save ‘em all. I tried. I was told by my supervisor: You can’t save them all, if you get one out of 10, you’re successful,” he said.
Dutro has always been involved with what became known as the Pakolea Program, started in 1969 to encourage academic achievement in football and basketball players. It allowed them to play only if they studied hard and attended practice regularly, and it was a successful form of behavior modification that encouraged responsibility, he said.
From 1971 to 1979, Dutro helped chaperone Palama’s winning football teams to compete twice a year on the mainland for championships. He also escorted kids on probation during visits to neighbor islands. For many youth, those trips were the first time on an airplane.
“Palama is unique. … I decided to always stay. I love helping Palama, I love this place and seeing it move on, and move on for the better. Anyway I can contribute to this place, even though I’m getting old, I’ll try, and when I can, then I’ll retire.”
Roots run deep
John Taira, a retired commercial banker, didn’t hang out at Palama like so many kids in Kalihi, though he used its gym and pool. But the Farrington High School graduate wanted to reconnect with his roots when he joined its board in 2014.
“Palama changed the course of my ‘second life.’ My first life was corporate, finance, traveling. Palama made me want to give back to my old neighborhood, give back to high schoolers. If I had not joined Palama, I might still be in banking,” said Taira, now 58.
Retired in 2020, Taira is finding much more reward in his second life teaching and mentoring youth. Serving on the board’s scholarship committee inspired him to do more for them.
“It was the first time I was exposed to bright, energetic, get-after-it kids from the area. It really made me feel good, that these kids had bright futures and they’re good people. When you go to a public school, when you excel like that, it’s all on you; there’s rarely anybody helping you … I was so impressed by them.”
He became acquainted with Al Carganilla, principal at Farrington High School, who also served on the board at the time. He encouraged Taira to try teaching business management and marketing at his alma mater, which he did in 2021.
“The kids were absolutely great at Farrington, 10 times better than when I graduated. Back then there were lots of fights, drug sniffers, you got hijacked for your money.”
His last semester at Farrington was this spring, though he is open to other avenues of teaching youth. Taira is now volunteering in a University of Hawaii mentoring program for underprivileged students. While he no longer serves on Palama’s board (he concluded his term as president from 2018 to 2020), he is still involved with the scholarship committee.
A second home
According to past news articles, former alumni — like the late Farrington High football coach Skippa Diaz — have often called Palama their second home and the staff their family. Others like Jackson Nakasone, once chairman of the nonprofit’s board, have credited Palama for keeping them off the streets and probably out of jail.
Isaiah Cardenas, who just graduated from McKinley High School, echoes those sentiments. He got his start in athletics playing football and basketball at Palama, hanging out there since the age of 10. At McKinley, he developed into an outstanding basketball, baseball and football varsity player.
“If it weren’t for Palama, I wouldn’t be playing in the gym; instead, I would be playing in the streets and doing bad things,” he said, noting a pattern of kids in his neighborhood.
All the coaches and staff have treated him like family, helping him make the right decisions and passing on life lessons on the field and off, he said.
“They make sure everybody has fun over there and it’s a safe place. … Palama provides everything for you: Every sport was free, the equipment was free, you get to meet new people and they provide meals and snacks.”
Aided by a Palama scholarship, he is studying liberal arts at Honolulu Community College. Once he graduates, he plans to go to trade school to become a plumber. His interest in plumbing developed while taking summer trade classes at Palama for two years.
Cardenas still hangs out at Palama with friends a few times a week, shooting baskets and talking story with “Uncle Sam” Aiona, who makes a point of reaching out and inquiring about school and other important things, he said.
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Looking back
• 1896: Central Union Church operates Palama Chapel on the corner of what are now Liliha and North King streets, offering boys’ clubs and other activities.
• 1905: Social workers James Arthur Rath and his wife, Ragna Helsher Rath, are recruited from Massachusetts.
• 1906: Chapel is renamed Palama Settlement. Public health nurses visit the poor in squalid tenements; a free milk depot for infants opens.
• 1908-1909: A large swimming pool opens in 1908 and a gymnasium opens the next year. By 1909, nurses treat tuberculosis patients, visit public schools and staff first-aid dispensaries, where doctors volunteer.
• 1914: Free dental clinic opens, preceding Strong-Carter Dental Clinic (closed in 1995).
• 1923: Nurses provide well-baby clinics, followed by obstetrical and other clinics over the next 20 years.
• 1925: Palama Settlement relocates to Vineyard Boulevard.
• 1920s-1950s: Sports programs spawn championship athletes.
• 1941: Staff assists with emergency medical treatment and air-raid warden duties in World War II. A preschool opens to allow mothers to work in the war effort.
• 1960: A new gymnasium is dedicated.
• 1969: The Pakolea Program is launched to motivate athletes academically; it later receives national recognition.
• 1989: Leland Blackfield Youth Center opens as a recreation room for teenagers.
• 2017: Coding classes begin for Palama youth, and computer literacy for adults.
Information provided by Paula Rath, trustee emeritus and granddaughter of Rath founders.
Celebrate Palama
Palama Settlement will commemorate its 125th anniversary with a free community celebration.
>> What: Brother Noland, Cha Thompson and Tihati Productions headline a list of local entertainers. There will be a keiki fun zone, displays, an informational fair, free chili bowls from Rainbow Drive-In and more.
>> Where: Palama Settlement, 810 N. Vineyard Blvd.
>> When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday
>> Info: palamasettlement.org or 808-845-3945
