The Korean church behind an ambitious plan to launch a farm and kim chee factory in Waianae that will be largely staffed by homeless people has lots of obstacles yet to overcome but is kicking off a fundraising effort to help push things along.
Hawaii Cedar Church in Kalihi has already purchased a 4-acre lot on Waianae Valley Road, where it is now growing test batches of cabbage and sweet potato, and is looking for homeless people willing to work on the farm or in the yet-to-be-built factory.
The church hopes to raise about $50,000 with donations from the community and food sales.
Church leaders believe the money, coupled with the church’s resources, will be enough to open a modest factory, purchase farming equipment and buy seed.
The church also wants to lease a 15-acre parcel, where much of the future farming will be done.
It all might seem incredibly daunting —or next to impossible — but Hawaii Cedar Church leaders say they’re committed.
And they think they could have the first homeless people working the farm as early as April.
The homeless, they say, will earn $8 an hour and have profit-sharing opportunities.
As many as 17 could live and work on the farm at one time, and an additional five could hold jobs in the factory, they say.
"We are doing what Jesus tells us: to love each other and take care of the homeless people," the Rev. Duk Whan Kim, church senior pastor, said through a translator.
The church is no stranger to launching out-of-the-box projects to help the homeless, but the farm-and-factory idea is its biggest yet.
Hawaii Cedar Church already runs a 15-room transitional shelter of sorts on Colburn Street, allows about 40 people to sleep in tents on the grounds every night, serves food daily, reaches out to homeless people in parks and puts on a food bank once a week.
The 200-member congregation, Kim said, believes strongly that homeless people deserve not only a handout, but also a little help to get on their feet.
"Only feeding (homeless) is no end," he said. "We can help them stand up for themselves."
Having homeless people on a working farm is not a new idea, and it’s one that has proved successful in other states.
Colin Kippen, the state’s homeless coordinator, said Hawaii Cedar Church deserves credit for embarking on a project that has the potential to change many lives for the better.
"The idea of being able to provide people with life skills and the ability to sustain through their personal efforts is always a positive thing, especially for those who may have fallen on hard times," Kippen said.
But he said there are many considerations that the church will have to consider, including proper permitting and whether the parcels where homeless people will be living and working are properly zoned.
The church will also have to present its plan to the community.
Mona Neill, second vice chairwoman of the Waianae Neighborhood Board, said she would have to know more about the project before forming an opinion about it.
But she also has questions about the farm’s zoning.
And she wants to know what kind of homeless would be helped there — singles or families? People from Waianae or from outside the community? At the Hawaii Cedar Church on Kamehameha IV Road on Tuesday, there were several homeless individuals who said the farm-and-factory project is an opportunity to give people who are struggling a chance to dig out.
Several also said they would be willing to work the land or to keep factory jobs, especially if those positions led to better employment prospects elsewhere.
"I’m looking at it as something I could use in the future," said Russell Pakele, 43, who lives in a tent at the church.
Jena Garcia, 22, said she’d be more than happy to pack up for Waianae with her family to live on the farm. "I want to go!" she said, laughing.
She lives at the church with her boyfriend and three children, ages 6, 5 and 3. The couple also volunteers to help serve meals, clean the church and do landscaping, as do all the homeless people who camp on the church grounds. Before moving to the church about two weeks ago, she and her family had been living at Waimanalo Beach Park for about a year.
Victoria Kealoha Braswell, 38, who also lives at the church, applauded its effort. "It’s awesome," said Braswell, who is at the church with her husband and five children, who range in age from 7 to 20.
The church, she said, "has helped the homeless."
