How Laulima Lifts Hawaii Families in Need with Michael Wong

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Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE: 
Welcome back, and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program, we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne and I’m Attilio, and if you have any questions, just give us a call at 7999596, or check us out online at Team lally.com

ATTILIO: 
our yesterday was born in Kona, raised on Oahu before stepping into the nonprofit world, he built a diverse career as an educator, coach, advertising professional, each role deepening his connection to Hawaii’s communities and people who call it home

ADRIENNE: 
now as the business develop. Development Specialist for the Laulima Giving Program. He’s focused on supporting keiki kupuna and families across the islands through initiatives like back to school drives, adopt a family, and the annual Laulima telethon. Please welcome back. Michael Wong,

MICHAEL: 
Aloha, wow. What a great introduction. You guys know how to bring it, yeah, well,

ADRIENNE: 
you’re a great person, so you made it very easy for us. Michael,

ATTILIO: 
so you just told the truth. I

MICHAEL: 
checked them cleared then All right,

ADRIENNE: 
I’m sure there’s so much more, I mean, but you know, we are limited on our time of our radio show,

ATTILIO:
so Michael, let’s just get to it. What is, tell us, what is the Laulima Giving Program?

MICHAEL: 
The Laulima Giving Program is a community based arm of Tiki Oh Kaina. When Momi started Tiki Oh kahaina back in 1996 she wanted a way for the community to bless other people within the community. Yeah. And that’s how the Laulima. It used to be called mo Kahi, but now the name has changed to allow Lima giving program,

ATTILIO: 
yeah? Keiki, Oka, I know my first two kids actually, no, I think all of them participated in kekeo Kaina, so I that brings back some good memories. Yes,

MICHAEL: 
I can’t tell you how many times I hear that story, yeah. Dealio, yeah. And

ADRIENNE: 
then my teens went through, they had some kind of a teen program, yes, that notes Absolutely yes. So all sorts of wonderful things they did, you got to motivate the teens, yeah,

ATTILIO: 
like, where’s my gift card?

MICHAEL: 
My gift card sounds like, sounds

ATTILIO:
like a senior citizen. I’m here for the pack of cigarettes. So what are we gotta listen to? No, the So, Adrienne, you had another question. So,

ADRIENNE: 
I mean, this is a community driven program, so how do you, how does the community or donors support your program? Yeah,

MICHAEL: 
that’s a great question. My job is to address businesses in the local community on all the islands, asking for their support. The neat thing about this is God has been so active in my life in education and in media sales. So I know a lot of the businesses because I used to sell air to them, and I get to go out to them and share the opportunity for them to let the local communities know we not only sell to you, but we support the people who live in the community too. So, yeah, it’s a good hand in hand type of cooperation. I

ATTILIO: 
think you guys, I saw I was watching on the YouTube. You know, Miss, do you know Mr. Beast? I don’t even know if you would know who Mr. Beast is on YouTube. He’s like, the most, uh, watched guy. He’ll, like, blow up a jet or something like that. But he his last video was awesome. It said, watch this video and we’ll feed a child. Oh, and love that. Oh, you go online to YouTube. Hi. I’m promoting it. I posted it on my LinkedIn because this is why I love this kid. He’s been doing YouTube videos since he was like 12, and has a whole bunch of offshoots like Food Lion and candy bars and all of that. But what he did on this last video, he literally went into communities in Ghana and built farms, bought him a truck. But more importantly, just so, I think you guys should reach out to Mr. Beast to come support the LAO Lee Lima giving program. But if you want to be the Mr. You know what, if your company wants to be the Mr. Beast of Oahu and and go do some fundraising or support for the the LAO Lima giving program, I think it’s a and correct me if I’m wrong. You know, Michael, you mentioned this in before. You guys kind of help families that are in that gap that in between, yeah, tell, tell our listeners with what does that mean in the gap,

MICHAEL: 
the people who make too much, yeah, to receive federal assistance, but don’t make enough, and they live paycheck to paycheck, and when something hit, like A cancer treatment or an injury or an illness, they fall short, and they fall into this dip. What we do is we listen for those people, and we have case workers across the state who know of these people, and they write a referral. And what we do is we, my job is to get the sponsors to reach out to them, and each one, our media partner is awesome at doing that. They put vignettes on on TV, and people see the stories, and they go, Oh, that used to be us. Let’s help that family. Yeah, so it’s a really good partnership, again, with media, with the local community, all spearheaded from mommy who had a heart to make sure that every child had at least one new present at Christmas. There now she continues to the whole year.

ATTILIO:
I think it’s important, because I’ve listened to a podcast of psychologists and therapists studying like, say, like the very unfortunate bottom of the society where you’re completely homeless, and they call it like a poverty spiral, and when you’re in a poverty smile, it’s really hard. To get out of that where you’re, you know, buying toilet paper at 711 versus that Costco, because you just need to get enough to get by, and it’s hard to save and get yourself out of that hole. So if you guys can keep them from that poverty spiral, out of the spiral well, and it doesn’t take as much money, and you can help more people, whereas somebody that’s way, way, way down. I’m not saying don’t help the people way at the down part, but it takes a lot of time and energy to help those people which they are receiving help, but you’re trying to keep them from going there.

MICHAEL: 
Yeah, exactly. We want people to know that they’re not alone. There is help. We’re still supporting the families in Lahaina, we’re not going away. That’s gonna stay in our hearts for as long as it takes. Yeah. And we even have people who are building mini homes. Oh, wow. In Lahaina on Oahu here back the president of our board, who was a main contractor for the build here for Extreme Makeover Home Edition. He’s now on our board, and he’s one of those people just says, You know what, let’s not stand around. Let’s gather resources and let’s build homes for people. So the movement has really grown to give people hope.

ADRIENNE: 
Yes, so Michael, if we have some listeners that like this is speaking to them, they’re in that gap, how how can they get involved or get support or services from the LA Lima giving program? Well,

MICHAEL: 
that’s a great that’s a great question. One of the things that we do is we vet every, every, every family or person who is asking for a la Lima so we don’t the people cannot ask directly to us. Okay, they would, they would have a church, a church, yeah, to an agency, to a pastor or a teacher who knows that there’s an advocate, very good, who knows what their situation. And they reach out to us at [email protected], and then I send them the referral, fill out form, and they sit back, and then we vet that person, and then we put the work to see if we can help

ATTILIO: 
and how we can help. All right, so let’s go through the different let’s call them business categories. And then you say that, we’ll say the business category. And then you can say, how specifically can that business category support the Allow me low Lau Lima giving program. So automotive, what about that one?

MICHAEL: 
Well, we have a couple of standout Jane Auto Group has been by our side. Aloha has been our buyer side for years and years. So for appreciative to them. But automotive can either make a donation per vehicle that they sell every month and sends us a check for that, or they can make a one time donation throughout the year. Cash is king for us, yeah, if we can buy things for people we you know, Hawaii, we didn’t have a lot of space to store beds and all these other kind of household items, and so cash is very useful. What we do is we spend very frugally to make sure we get the best deal and we can still support the people who need help.

ADRIENNE: 
Michael, what if you have a working vehicle that you just would like to donate

ATTILIO: 
and give the money?

ADRIENNE: 
But do you guys take the working vehicles for families that maybe have fallen short, or like you want the money versus the work? I like Monday.

ATTILIO: 
You guys know that movie? Remember that movie only?

MICHAEL: 
Yeah, I remember only because we, you know, we don’t have a lot of people, yeah. In fact, you’re speaking to the only person in the LA Lima Giving Program. Everybody else has got other responsibilities. So the the quickest thing would be for them to sell it, yes, and then donate, and, of course, receive the tax donation.

ATTILIO: 
Well, here’s what I would say, that you guys can give them a nice plaque. They can go up on that wall, you know what? All their awards. Thank you to whatever they have a beach tea, you know, little league. And they can put that out there, but it will tell you, consumers love that stuff. When they go in there, it helps them make a buy decision. So give us the two people, give us the two automotive groups that are supporting you, so that we create pressure for the other ones. So what’s the two that are supporting?

MICHAEL: 
Aloha Kia, Aloha Kia and and Jay and Auto Group,

ATTILIO: 
Jan Auto Group, the way to go. I know Jay and auto group. They got offline. So okay, surf Cole with Alexis, Chevy, Subaru. I used to work there. That’s why I know what they have. Mercedes be all you guys, come on. Alright.

ADRIENNE: 
Now, how about this hotel and resort? Hotel and

ATTILIO: 
Resort? Oh, we are

MICHAEL: 
blessed to have Kahala Hotel and Resort. Oh, wait a minute, we are having. They have given us a $10,000 room to use nice for our text on Oh, on December 11, on Thursday. And they do that every year. They do a they do a Christmas tree that they decorate in their lobby. We deliver them ornaments that have the gender they. Yeah, and a suggested gift for that person and the and the employees there take one of those, they buy it, they bring it back, and it’s been growing. It’s almost 100 gifts that they

ATTILIO: 
donate. All right, so you know what we’re gonna we’re gonna book in the island of Oahu. You got the Kahala resort? Well, hello, four seasons and Aulani. Aulani, we need you guys with the trees out there and all the other hotels between those two. You guys gotta bring it. Hawaii, Prince, I don’t know, Hilton, the whatever, all these different brands, double tree, all of you guys, you know, even holiday in Express, you can put one small tree in the in the small country, yeah, next one up is, what clothing?

ADRIENNE: 
Clothing? How about that clothing?

MICHAEL: 
You know, our people need clothes. There’s a lot of times that they have no clothes. We help clean. I’m sorry, I’m a key High School. Yeah, two years ago, Nice, we found out that many of the people, the students there, were the same clothes throughout the entire week. Oh, wow, that’s all they have. Yeah. And so we had century 21 Pacific properties spend $20,000 in clothes, whoa, food and school supplies as they as they help kaimaki High School. That’s the kind of connection we’ve been enjoying with people who are hurting. And people say, I’ll help. Let me help. Yes, how about Ross?

ATTILIO: 
I think Ross dressed for less. You guys should all that, all those 40 foot containers that you guys get. We

MICHAEL: 
would love to develop a relationship with Ross. We haven’t at this point, but thanks to you too. I think we have

ATTILIO: 
in the word out, all these people. We know they listen to the show. And you know, if you guys, you business owners, if you and you presidents and you operations people, if you think we’re trying to guilt trip you into donating to the Laulima giving program, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do, by the way, you know, and seriously, when you have a corporate organization that participates in giving back to the community. It helps with retention, that’s right, it helps with decisions with clients, to make decisions with you. What’s the other one? Adrienne, and then, what about

ADRIENNE: 
food? Food?

MICHAEL: 
Food is is a mainstay. You know, a lot of people don’t have the food. In fact, I just went to a poverty simulation exercise out in Waianae, yeah. And it was amazing for you to think of what you would have to go through if you had no money, had no resources. Yeah, they were going to shut down your lights. We’re going to repo your house. And it was amazing. It was kind of frightening to go through. What do I do next? What do I pouch? And it was, it was a situation that we want to raise our hand and say, if, if you truly need, we would truly help. Gotcha.

ATTILIO: 
And then, and, you know a local people, you know, you love your food, so maybe the restaurants should say, hey, for the rest of the year, we’re going to sponsor, we’re going to give us away, so many per meal, to Lau Lima. And then all these people are going to be like, You know what? I already going L and L, what’s his name? Mr. Flores. Mr. Flores, how about all the L and L barbecues for every Chicken Katsu you’re gonna give one piece of chicken? No, no, you’re not gonna give one piece of chicken katsu. You’re gonna give a part of a chicken katsu meal to the Laulima giving project. So, all right, that would be awesome.

MICHAEL: 
What a great idea. Very

ATTILIO: 
nice. And Chick fil A and canes, I see that us crazy local people, the line like, 10 o’clock at night, the line is, we

ADRIENNE: 
might know the owner of the Sonic, yeah, coming soon, the couple a maybe, maybe Sonic,

MICHAEL: 
Sonic is coming. Yeah, they’re

ADRIENNE: 
coming. Yes, we are excited.

ATTILIO: 
So yes, you guys all looking forward to sitting in your car and having somebody bring a meal to you on roller skates, on the roller skates, but Sonic

MICHAEL: 
categories that we mentioned, you know, we also accept gift cards. Gift cards, yeah, for our telethon, yeah. So the people call and they say, I like to make a donation of $100 with me. Well, thank you so much for that. How about a $50 donation to people like big city diner, nice. Been an amazing supporter of La Lima Giving Program. Big City

ATTILIO: 
diner, yes, we’ll support them. I don’t know what time of the year it is, but we always used to go and do the was it secretary? I don’t even know, Administrative Assistant, oh, we kind of say Secretary anymore. That’s the name of that horse that would win the race. But no, that was Secretariat, but it’s administrative assistance. They do a really good job with that. So go out and support. And then transportation. What about transportation?

MICHAEL: 
Transportation? We had a we had a situation where I met a lady, yeah, one of our back to school drives in Kapolei, Walmart, yeah. And she told me, You know what, we have some peaches that came in, and the people canceled the order. Would you like some peaches? And I thought, oh, okay, some nice canned peaches. And we’ll figure out a way. Went there and they give us two pallets. Oh, palettes, a lot fresh peach. Is, yeah, that you best you’ve ever tasted. So what we did is we brought them all back here. They did it fit in my car, so I got the van, went out there and loaded it up for three trips. To make it happen, we delivered them to families who didn’t have any nice and here they are, the top of the line peaches, a whole tray of them, and they were blessing. But those are people that we meet just like you. You know what? We do the same together. We talk to people. Yeah, you talk to people. I talk to people. And, you know this, people who can help big, yeah, people who can help, not so big, but it’s all, it’s all a group effort.

ADRIENNE: 
Yeah, I think that goes back. We in the beginning of our show, we talked about some great questions. And, you know, one of those questions is, who do you know that I should know?

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, so listeners, who do you know that we should know that can be helping, by the way we this is Michael Wong with the LAO Lima giving program. This is a program that helps our community. You guys are people that are in that gap, people in that gap. And then how about the airlines? You know, we know, get one super bigger airline now, because Alaska merged with Hawaiian so Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, you know, the guy on the Alaska Airlines tail, he’s now dating the Hawaiian girl with the hibiscus. You know, they had a union, they merged, and they’re feeling very generous right now in their airline. I like the airline merger romance, and so they want to make big donations. What can the airlines do?

MICHAEL: 
You know, Daniel Chun from Alaska Airlines has been an amazing supporter with us. Thank you. You know, with the merger going on, they kind of have to slow that down. So hopefully they come back. Yeah, and Hawaiian comes back with us. So that’s, that’s, you know, we can use airline vouchers and Alaska gigil, check this out, airline tickets anywhere Alaska flies. Oh, wow, yeah, because, because, because, if somebody needs transportation to get cancer treatment that’s offered here in Hawaii. Nice. Go to mainland Alaska, standston. I mean, those are the kind of things in the partnerships that would be amazing. Yeah.

ATTILIO: 
Last one is the schools. What can those schools do to support the Laulima giving program?

MICHAEL: 
We have a couple of schools, my my elementary school, yeah, we have schools like Keone ULA Elementary, Paul Kelly, elementary Lally, a mano Middle School. These schools put together a Lao Lima day. They’ll have entertainment. They’ll bring all the classes together, and each student will either bring an unwrapped new toy or personal hygiene toothbrush, too. That doesn’t have to be big, yeah. But when they come together, we collect probably 40 bags, large, wow, of donations from these schools. And what it is, is the teachers are teaching the students the joy of giving,

ADRIENNE: 
yeah, and that’s done, what throughout the year? Or is there a certain time of year that this is one

MICHAEL: 
time once in probably after between right around Thanksgiving time, yeah, in the beginning of December, this one that’s, you know, the high season for for gift giving.

ADRIENNE: 
Yeah, now, I mean, you’re talking about the high season for this awareness and gift giving, but like, people need help all year round. What’s the low season? So what kind of events or programs or pushes happen in that those other times of the year?

MICHAEL: 
So this this summer, June and July, we are partnering with Walmart again. This is very nice, only on Oahu, and then also Fisher Hawaii is joining us. Oh, nice. So excited about that. So the two of them were going to be at events at their place. We’re going to sell things online where people can buy school supplies. Just go on their computer, buy it, send it to us, and we will inventory it. And then we take them out to the title one schools, the ones with high percentages of low income, yes. And students who don’t have the right amount of school supplies, it’s hard for them to be successful. We want them to be successful.

ATTILIO: 
Yep. And then last one here is, what are your guys goals for? 2025 we’re we’re through the was it first quarter? So we got three quarters of the year.

MICHAEL: 
That’s a That’s a great question. Last year we and though COVID, we still people are so generous here. So last year we’re almost 400,000 so this year, in in cash and in kind, donations, household supplies, gift cards, vacations, restaurants, vouchers, vouchers. We we’d love to surpass 500 this year. My goal, oh, from my lips, God’s ears, to do a million a year. Cool, um, because there’s so much need out there. When one person gets taken care of, four or five other ones pop up. There’s such a depth of of need out here in the island. Yeah, constantly now,

ADRIENNE: 
Michael, we are approaching the end of our show, yeah, so if there’s anything that we did not get to touch on that you want our listeners to know about. Well, let’s Absolutely, let’s talk about, or maybe even, you know, a success story. People love stories, so either way. Yeah,

MICHAEL: 
good. That’s a great close. Allow Lima giving program.org is our website. La Lima giving program.org, one word, okay, if you like success stories. And Adrienne, you’re exactly right. We love success stories. Go to our our media partner, K H O n2 com slash Lau Lima, yeah. You’ll see stories, you’ll see videos. You’ll see how the the the people that we’ve helped, the people that we reach out to. K H O n2 com la Lima,

ATTILIO: 
yeah, bring the tissue, because you’re gonna cry. And then why you cry? Why are you crying? Open up your checkbook, maybe, like we did, tears all in the memo section. Lau Lima, giving, yes. Oh yeah. So yeah, alrighty.

MICHAEL: 
Well, thank you. Hey, listen, God bless God bless you and your Ohana and your and your real estate company, oh, that you really have a heart for people in the shows.

ADRIENNE: 
Yes, thank you. So thank you, Michael. We appreciate you being on and always bringing value and all that you do in the community, and

ATTILIO: 
I’m sure we’ll have you on again. Yes, alrighty, alright.

ADRIENNE:
God bless you both. Aloha, aloha. So again, that’s Michael Wong with the Laulima giving program. We will have links in, you know, in the comment section there you want to contact them and donate.

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