On a sunny day in July (despite Tropical Storm Darby), Kauai Division held its annual pensioner picnic, which brought together almost 200 pensioners from five ILWU pensioner clubs for food, fun, and fellowship.
Unlike other Division pensioner gatherings, Kauai Division always makes their pensioners get up and get active. Aside from the guessing games (e.g., how many candies in the jar), which this year expanded to nine jars (from three), the pensioners had a chance to win prizes at three other games—mini golf, manned by Stanley Dotario; dart blackjack, manned by Ernie Domingo and Peter Rayno; and “Portuguese horseshoes,” manned by B.A. Calvin Corpuz and his wife Liberty. Nearly all the pensioners tried at least one of the games—and many won prizes for hitting the right cards with three darts for blackjack or tossing a ring into a puka ala horseshoes or sinking a golf putt.
The Kauai Division pensioner picnic is a family affair. D.D. Pamela Green recruited her husband Joel and their grandson for set-up and clean-up duty. B.A. Calvin Corpuz brought his whole family to help throughout the day. B.A. Doreen Kua’s mother made her famous hand-made leis. PAC chair Jesse Vaughn brought along his daughter for inter-generational mingling.
Of course, there were the requisite speakers, but, following instructions, everyone kept it short. Pamela Green, Kauai Division Director, welcomed the pensioners and thanked them for their years of loyalty and dedication to the ILWU. Robert Girald, President of the ILWU Memorial Association (M.A.), shared how the M.A. works on behalf of the Local to sustain the ILWU pensioner program. Local Social Services Coordinator Joanne Kealoha represented the Titled Officers, who were unable to attend.
Candidates endorsed for the Primary Election were also there to extend their good wishes to the pensioners— including Ron Kouchi for State Senate; Dee Morikawa and Nadine Nakamura for State House; Justin Kollar for County Prosecutor; and Ross Kagawa, Arryl Kaneshiro, Arthur Brun, and Mason Chock for County Council. In keeping with a Kauai Division tradition, endorsed candidates and elected officials attend the pensioner picnic whether it’s an election year or not and, in true local fashion, bring something to the party—soda, water, or a small door prize.
And there were plenty of prizes—45 20-pound bags of rice for bingo prizes and lots of door prizes, including a $100 Foodland gift card. Everyone walked away a winner.
The Kauai pensioner picnic is an annual tradition, and the ILWU pensioners on Kauai look forward to it. Some of their friends may be in poor health and some have passed on, but activities like the pensioner picnic help many ILWU pensioners stay in touch with each other, enjoy some laughter and merriment, and get their blood circulating as they play games and carry home their prizes.
Here’s to many more pensioner picnics to come!
The Kauai pensioner’s clubs—G & R, Golden Years, Kekaha, Lihue, and McBryde—ordered bento lunches for members, who shared food and fellowship at the picnic.
The mini golf game proved to be very popular with the pensioners, who lined up patiently to try their hand at putting.
Pensioners try to guess how many candies have been fit into glass jars of different sizes.
The “Portuguese horseshoes” game required a toss from a fair distance. Many of the games gave the senior citizens a good opportunity to exercise and have fun while doing it.
ILWU-endorsed candidate Dee Morikawa spoke at the pensioner’s picnic, thanking retirees for their contributions to Kauai communities. Morikawa currently serves as State House Representative for District 16, which includes the areas of Niihau, Lehua, Koloa, and Waimea.
