Tidbits and Thoughts . . .
Legal Aid's Online News
September 30, 2015
Goodbye to September . . .
A month full of hurricane warnings, flash flood alerts, tsunami advisories, and
Mariota touchdowns!
Now on to Tidbits!
Legal Aid's Fair Housing Enforcement Program helps settle civil rights complaint for disabled woman
Photo credit: Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Featured on Civil Beat
Disabled and Homeless: This Hawaii Woman Found She Had No Place To Go
Hawaii's largest emergency homeless shelter recently settled a civil rights complaint after it allegedly turned her away. Other disabled people experience similar discrimination when seeking housing.
· By Anita Hofschneider
The loneliness Ingrid Rodrigues felt during the 11 months she spent sleeping in her car near the Honolulu Zoo was overwhelming.
After working and paying taxes in Hawaii for three decades, at age 59 she had been laid off from her job at a timeshare company. Her job search was unsuccessful, and after two years, her savings and unemployment benefits had run out. Click to read the full article
Kauai Legal Aid office holds annual Elder Law Fair
Kauai Legal Aid managing attorney Linda Vass with Kauai staff members Damione Verdusco (paralegal) and Shoshana O'Brien (staff attorney).
The Kauai Legal Aid office, in partnership with the Kauai County Agency on Elderly Affairs and with support from Title III funding, presented its annual Elder Law Fair on Friday, September 11. Legal Aid staff attorney Janet Kelly came again this year to speak to seniors about estate planning while representatives from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs spoke on consumer issues affecting seniors.
Many organizations and service providers answered questions and offered more information to seniors visiting their booths. Thank you to Kauai staff member Donna Chu (paralegal) for organizing as part of the planning committee.
Last Day to Support Legal Aid through Foodland's Give Aloha
During the month of September, you can donate to Legal Aid at any Foodland store by using your Makai card. Enter the organization code: #77736.
Based on how much is donated, Foodland and Western Union will match a portion of the donation to Legal Aid. Please share this information with your friends and family.
Court Self-Help Centers help over 10,000
Judiciary Self-Help Centers Provide Aid to Over 10K
by Big Island Now Staff
Legal aid self-help centers in Hawai'i are booming with more than 10,000 people who have used the centers since they were established four years ago. The centers were created through collaborations between the Hawai'i State Judiciary, the Hawai'i Access to Justice Commission, Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i, and the Hawai'i State Bar Association. Click to read the full article
Outreach workers help the homeless near Pearl Harbor sign up for services
By Dan Nakaso
Honolulu Star Advertiser
8/22/15
Michelle Ip, left, outreach manager for Care-A-Van, and Carly Williamson, right, of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, looked through the brush around Pearl Harbor to tell the homeless about their programs.
About 30 homeless people living in tents and tarps around Pearl City's Neal S. Blaisdell Park took tentative steps toward life off the streets when 11 social service agencies this week offered assistance getting them everything from jobs to medical services to replacing lost birth certificates.
Waikiki Health's Care-A-Van program led a contingent of outreach workers who started Thursday morning by scouring the bushes and weeds that line the bike path along the water's edge around Blaisdell Park, looking for homeless people in need of help.
At the end of the three-hour effort, a dozen homeless military veterans had linked up with services geared specifically to them; eight homeless people signed up for food stamps; seven plugged into the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, mostly to obtain duplicate Social Security cards, birth certificates and state IDs they need to get jobs and permanent housing; four received medical treatment from Waikiki Health; four got linked up with the Institute for Human Services' employment program; and three applied for state Med-QUEST health insurance.Click to read the full article
In the Community
Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center Outreach Specialist Joanne Loeak provides legal information at the event.
Over 300 people were in attendance at Kapiolani Park to celebrate Kosraen Liberation Day. Celebrated throughout the Federated States of Micronesia, it is one of the major holidays in Kosrae. Legal Aid's Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center distributed brochures about its services and conducted intake at the event.
