HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

222

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE GOVERNOR AND THE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH TO SUPPORT ADEQUATE FUNDING FOR THE LANAKILA MULTI-PURPOSE SENIOR CENTER.

 

 

 


WHEREAS, the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center was founded forty years ago and presently serves almost two thousand seniors aged sixty and older living in the area between Fort Shafter and Ward Avenue on Oahu; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center, currently operated by the nonprofit Catholic Charities Hawaii, offers over fifty programs, services, and classes to seniors that include seven cultural clubs, ethnic clubs, health and fitness classes, recreational and educational activities, arts and crafts, singing and musical instrument instruction, and classes in hula, tap dance, and ethnic Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese dance; and

 

     WHEREAS, special workshops offered include tax preparation, stress management, health maintenance, and defensive driving; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Center also publishes a monthly newsletter, which notifies its readers of recent criminal activity, advises seniors of preventive safety measures to take, and informs them of various activities and volunteer programs; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Center's budget is nearly $400,000 per year, with a little more than half coming from a combination of private donations and Department of Health funds; and

 

     WHEREAS, grants-in-aid from the Legislature usually make up the remainder of the Center's budget but such funds were not received in fiscal year 2008-2009, which temporarily threatened to close the Center; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center is a vital alternative that keeps seniors active, healthy, aware, and engaged, thereby helping seniors to age in place and avoid very costly institutionalization; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, that the Governor and the Director of Health are urged to support adequate funding in the amount of $337,000 for the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Director of Health, the Director of the Executive Office on Aging, and the President of Catholic Charities Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center