For this Thanksgiving, our initial mission was to order 20 Large Pizza from Dominos. We wanted to order the Pizza, drive around our community, and pass out a box to each family so that they could spend quality time with their friends and family during Thanksgiving. We ended up raising $654 in just ONE DAY, and we were able to purchase 35 Large pizzas, several cases of bottled water & Hawaiian Sun, and paper napkins for these families. To us, a box of pizza is almost equivalent to two cups of Starbucks coffee. The point is that we are pretty fortunate to have necessities (food, water, & tools) whenever we want because we have access to resources that certain people do not. To these lovely and gracious families that we met and shared meaningful conversations with, a box of pizza means the world to them, especially one that came from the kindness of our hearts.

The most stressful part of this mission was keeping all 35 pizzas warm the night before because all pizzerias are closed on Thanksgiving. We had to take turns swapping the pizzas in and out of the oven so that the pizzas would be good for the next morning. However, all that stress disappeared when we saw how appreciative these families were, and from the smiles and laughs we received. We would love to do this again in the future! Perhaps we could do something for Christmas :)


I would like to recognize: Andy Luu, Jessica Baliares, Kiana Arizumi, Zoey Akagi-Bustin, Robyn Acob, Ryu Yamane, Kekoa Thater, Alyssa Mencel, Jenny Park, Erica Bantolina, Shiloh Kaneshiro, Ethan Nakazaki, Ivan Yang, Duncan Morgan, Hana Kimura, Jay Jay Bernardo, Bradon Miyake, Ila Ferris, Ariel Orasud, Cody Kaneshiro, Lara Yasumi, Kammeran Gonzalez-Keola, Micah Garces, Kolby Wong, Olivia Sou, David Chien, Sanreen Lian, Nicholas Kuwamoto, Dane Higuchi, Alexander Wong, Coby Yoshi, Kanoe Kapeliela, Kristi Chinen, Jacqueline Nguyen, Andrew Tsunoda, Natalie Kwon, Robb Inouye, Mari Ho, Lorren Chun, Kalle Sonsona, & STYR Apparel for their generous donations.

Special thanks to: @ivanyang, @nolanomura, @ryu.yamane, @lea_from_aiea, and @clooowz for coming out to help distribute food/drinks to these families, and making this adventure less stressful than it intended to be.

There was more I wanted to pick up, but both of my hands were completely occupied with as much trash I could hold. Let's try to set an example for people who are not as knowledgeable as we are about climate change and coral bleaching. Most often times people see trash, but hesitant to pick up because they immediately assume that there's way too much trash to pick up. As long as you take the initiative to pick up at least one thing, you are making a difference in our community. The best thing we can do is leave the beach cleaner than it was by the time you leave.