Many of my readers have heard of Hale Kipa, a nonprofit organization that serves at-risk youth and young adults, but might not know its interesting story.

I had a chance to sit down with the Rev. Sam Cox, who ran Hale Kipa, or House of Friendliness, for 23 years; current CEO Punky Pletan-Cross; and Deputy CEO Jaque Kelley-Ueoka to learn more. I didn’t expect Steve Jobs to be part of the story. More on that later.

Hale Kipa was started by the Rev. Bil Aulenbach in 1970. Aulenbach was fired from Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in Aina Haina, where he was assistant rector in charge of youth work, after he publicly opposed the war in Vietnam.

That same day (the way he puts it, he was "fired at 7 a.m., hired at 9 a.m.") he approached the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii about starting a shelter for runaways in an underutilized building near the bishop’s office. He was hired as the diocese youth director.

"At that time there was the old dean’s house," Aulenbach said, "that had not been used for years by the Cathedral. I suggested that the dean’s house would make a perfect shelter. It was downtown and near social services.

"The Junior League of Honolulu jumped in, fixed the dean’s house and made it a home for the girls. They also provided the funding for the first live-in house parents."

Hale Kipa initially focused on taking care of young, wayward girls, many of whom had run away from home. Too many were on the street or engaging in prostitution to support themselves.

The police were routinely picking up the girls and needed a place to take them. The boys were left alone back then, under the thinking that they were stronger and could take care of themselves. That was the mindset then.

Some of the parents at the St. Andrew’s Priory School next door were initially opposed to having such a program in their midst. At a meeting with the bishop, some of the parents got up and left.

"If you open up Hale Kipa, we’ll withdraw all our kids from the Priory School," their spokesman said.

The bishop was unfazed. "By God, we’re opening tomorrow!" he responded. The parents soon got over their hesitation.

Pletan-Cross said that back then more traditional social service agencies were not involved with the rise of young people they saw as no longer respectful or appropriately responding to adults.

"Parents didn’t know what do with disobedient, rebellious teens. Many had the expectation that their kids would follow the rules and do what they were told," Pletan-Cross said.

Some of these "throwaway" kids were kicked out of their homes by parents who were fed up.

Hale Kipa housed runaways and also provided them with meals, clothes, counseling and assistance finding jobs. By 1972 Hale Kipa expanded to take care of at-risk boys as well as girls.

"Our first real home was in Manoa, and I went to meet the neighbors," said Cox, who retired from Hale Kipa in 1998. "Hare Krishnas had occupied the home before us. The neighbors said it would be OK, ‘as long as you don’t chant.’"

In the early 1980s there were few computers in the community, and Hale Kipa was no exception. How they came to get their first one is an interesting story.

One day Cox received a phone call from Steve Jobs at Apple. "He wanted to donate Apple II computers to Hale Kipa and other youth-service organizations in Hawaii."

Apple flew Cox and several neighbor island agency representatives to Cupertino, Calif., all expenses paid, where they were trained by Jobs and other Apple staff over a few days.

"I had never seen a computer like this before. Steve Jobs came out, and I thought he looked like one of our runaway kids! He had sloppy jeans and a T-shirt.

"One thing I remember him saying," Cox says, "is that someday every village in the world will have a computer, and when we do that we will have information exchanges that no dictator will be able to censor and we’ll have world peace."

"I was very impressed with his vision. The computers allowed us to network and have a common database between the four islands we served.

"In addition to one computer at Hale Kipa, a computer was given to youth shelters on each of the islands. The idea was to help us keep track of neighbor island youth who made their way to Oahu. This helped initiate the organization called Hawaii Youth Services Network."

Cox, who has traveled to such countries as India and China, says every village now has one or more computers.

HALE KIPA HAS built a comprehensive array of more than 20 programs that ensure youth receive the right kind of support and, when possible, remain in the communities where they live. Programs span juvenile justice, behavioral health, child welfare and education.

Cox, who was instrumental in expanding Hale Kipa to 12 locations, remembers community members standing up at meetings to say, "If we don’t take care of these kids, who will?" Unfortunately, today many say, "Not in my backyard."

Janae Akima, 21, is one of Hale Kipa’s success stories. Hale Kipa helped her make the transition out of foster care, and she is now studying nursing.

"The biggest thing that it gave me," Akima says, "was stability as far as having money (funds are provided by the state) to save for a car and housing. It really got me on my feet and helped me not to worry so much about where I am going to go or what I am going to live off of. It helped ease my mind."

Today Hale Kipa has nearly 20 locations throughout the islands and has served 40,000 youth and young adults. I congratulate the organization for helping so many young people in its 45 years.

Bob Sigall, author of the Companies We Keep books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.