So many of us long for the “good old days” that we thought was a much simpler life. However, once you actually learn the truth, life was much harder than it seemed. It was actually tough back then to make a living to support a growing family. It took a tremendous amount of sacrifice to make it, but there was a key difference.

When my grandfather decided to pursue farming, he needed resources and that came from the Okinawan community. They all descended from villages in their home country and maintained their connections to each other. They all helped each others’ families in some fashion to put food on the table, have shelter, and get their children educated. The community worked together to support one another.

Fast forward to the present and that sense of community has appeared to have disappeared. I had a vision and hope to build the Kaneohe community again through running our Kaneohe Elementary School Fun Fair earlier this year. We had not had a fair for the PTO for some 5 years and a group of us fearless parents and dedicated staff decided to hold it.

I was lucky to kind of have a guide from previous fairs but in a span of 5 years, many things completely change and we had to make revisions. Some of those changes including having food trucks instead of parents cooking the food and adding on crafters too. We also had to dig up old games for kids to play and create new ones.

When we started the planning, it was clear we needed manpower and focused on using the captive audience of the May Day program to announce the plans. In my mind I thought that parents would be excited to volunteer and help but was wrong. We had several tell myself and the PTO president that they were busy that day, despite not even having a day finalized. Ok, so be it.

The actual planning really started in June for an even in September with a core group of about 10 of us. I had taken on an OT student for 12 weeks and somehow managed to plan this fair. Every night I was up to at least midnight figuring out the details to make this happen.

Time flies and the fair day arrived and I was there at 6 am prepping everything. I worked the set up crew, bouncy houses, got craft and food vendors arranged, ran games, relieved the DJ, brought food for our guests, and even cleaned up. That day added some 12 miles worth of steps. It was completely exhausting but good to see kids making great memories while raising much needed funds for the classrooms.

I had planned to have thank you posters made that day but found it had been vandalized which really got me mad. So many had donated time, money, and items for the event and we could not even write a note of thanks. That blew my mind on top of seeing the very parents who told me they were busy that day walk up to the bouncy house.

In the old days, people stepped up to help each other. They’d see a problem and lend a hand. Everybody knew whose kids were whose. Kaneohe was really a small town back in the day. People shared of their time to help one another. That is something that we need to bring back into our community again.

When I looked back at why I was running around so much, I saw the problem. I had asked for 180+ volunteers for 1.75 hour shifts and we had 142 signed up. The actual count that signed in was 124 making us short close to 60 people. My 12 miles of walking proved the lack of volunteers.

In my determination to see things right, I got permission from the principal to speak to the kids to make those thank you cards right. It took time but the ones redone were beautiful to help showcase the gratitude of the kids who really had a good time.

Sometimes getting mad can really lead to clarity, which is what happened. On top of helping for the elementary school, I attended my high schooler’s parent group and learned of their plight to earn funds for their graduations. That got my mind thinking how we can help them too while putting on the fair.

We’ve come off of a very divisive year of events and we have to rebuild our human connections. That is why I’m willing to give of my time and sweat equity so that my kids can grow up in a better world.

The good old days of helping out, volunteering, and giving back are valued that are so needed now.