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congregation of 14 people, but each member of our community leaves the sanctuary, you know,
<br /> leaves the ashram, rejuvenated, recharged, their hearts full, full of joy, and takes that to their
<br /> family, to their work place, to the community at large. And it might seem silly, but those small
<br /> actions that we encounter every day, you know, someone letting us in as we are trying to merge,
<br /> or just someone friendly, someone's friendly smile in a supermarket, those little things really do
<br /> go a long way. So,though it might sound silly, I truly believe that Konalani not only allows our
<br /> small congregation to practice our religion as is our right, but it makes a whole Kona community
<br /> a better, sweeter, more joyful place to live. That's our goal.
<br /> EHINGER: Hello. I know you—I'll try to make mine quick, I think you were just sharing my
<br /> name and where I'm from—but so I'm Joe Ehinger, and I'm a resident acharya at the ashram as
<br /> well. And just to make it really simple, I came to the ashram after graduating at the DePaul
<br /> University, and though I went through high school and college and graduated with honors, I
<br /> didn't feel like I really learned anything about living until the ashram taught me how to work,
<br /> how to fix things, how to serve, how to just take every day for what it needs from me, and it's a
<br /> life of selfless service much like everybody in this room actually; you guys, we are all like, you
<br /> know, in the service industry in a way, the public service. So it just, it has taught me so much.
<br /> Even though I thought that I was going to learn all that in college, I learned it in the ashram.
<br /> And I have been living there for 14 years in the ashram. It's, I wear every hat you can wear; I'm,
<br /> you know, I'm like the guy, the minister at the church that you see out there, pulling the weeds,
<br /> and then giving the sermon, and then, you know, after the sermon, like hanging out with you and
<br /> talking story, and then he's there at night, you know, cleaning the place. So I'm just, you know,
<br /> the resident acharya along with my wife, and it's a full life, and we fully committed to it for our
<br /> life's work, and we are so grateful that Faith committed to it and made it possible for us. So,
<br /> yeah, I know it's been a long morning already, so I just, I'll wrap it up for me.
<br /> Neighborhood relations have always been really important, and I see a lot of people from our
<br /> community here today. Faith has always emphasized to me since my first day at Konalani how
<br /> absolutely vital neighbor relations are, and so I look at each of them with a lot of love in my
<br /> heart, and I've made sure to extend my services to all the elders in our community to know that
<br /> I'm always there to lend a hand. In fact,just before this meeting I was sort of running around
<br /> trying to get some farm equipment to one neighbor, and yesterday I was helping another
<br /> neighbor with their bananas because, you know, the apple bananas are so big. Anyway, as well
<br /> as the little fire ant epidemic, I just took it upon myself because I saw Ho`omaluhia being
<br /> infested with them. I heard about cats and dogs, even one of the neighbors that are here today,
<br /> actually their dog has cataracts from the little fire ant epidemic. I took it upon myself to teach
<br /> everybody how to test. I contacted BIISC, Big Island Invasive Species Committee, told them,
<br /> you know, "Can we get and organize a workday here?" I offered the ashram as a home to that
<br /> workday every six weeks for—you know how long it takes for the little fire ants, it's like a one-
<br /> to two-year commitment. So it's a pretty big deal. Nobody else in the neighborhood was willing
<br /> to take that on. I always take that for granted, I'm like that's what I was taught to do, but then
<br /> when you actually ask people, you realize not everybody is going to do that. So for the next
<br /> couple of years, we'll be, you know,the home base for the little fire ant epidemic to get rid of it
<br /> on Ho`omaluhia, and little does Sea View know is that a big part of our work is actually
<br /> preventing them, the fire ants, from getting to Sea View. And so right now with the work we are
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<br /> EXHIBIT E
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