Executive Director’s Corner -April 2022
A few weeks ago, our EPIC `Ohana gathered on Zoom for our annual Kūhiō Day training. It was our third virtual Kūhiō Day, and we paused to think about Hawai'i in 1922, when Prince Kūhiō passed away, 100 years ago. The “Spanish Flu” pandemic had just ended. The Spanish flu pandemic killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people worldwide, and an estimated 675,000 people in the United States. Our population at that time was less than 200,000 people, but it is estimated that more than 2,300 people died from the pandemic in Hawai'i. In March 2020, when we immediately pivoted conferences, circles and meetings, and sent almost everyone home to work, we didn’t imagine two years of adjustments and concern. We set three goals: to keep our EPIC `Ohana, families and young people healthy and safe; to exceed expectations on all contracts and grants; and to do everything we can to keep our community safe. I am proud that we did accomplish our goals.
We are now starting to return to in person conferences, circles and meetings. Most of our staff will continue to work from home, and a portion of our work will continue to be virtual. In April we will have an in-person convening of Nā Kama a Hāloa. We are deeply grateful for all of your support and encouragement.
The last three months have been very busy at EPIC. We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded the CWS contract to provide `Ohana Conferences, Youth Circles, and `Ohana Finding services statewide for the next six years.
