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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0589.011 2020-2022 PI cOurici dill Ili COQ, j From: karen Bohner COUNTYHAWAII Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2022 7:15 PM To: Council Testimony FEB 22 AN 9. Subject: Bill 111 My name is Karen Bohner and I am writing on behalf of the Kona Alano Club, in support of Bill 111, which would appropriate at least 75% of the property tax revenue that is currently collected from second homes valued over 2 million. Our organization helps members of our community avoid and overcome homelessness, through programs like the Kona Alano Club, which housed AA, NA&AI-anon meetings 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We work with drug court, we go into the Prison to carry the message to the Alcoholic, we offer the public information and we have a literature office in Kona. Located at 74-5606 Pawai PI Suite 102, Kona Hi, Our AA Hotline is manned with trusted servants 24 hours a day at 808-329-1212 and our Central Office open to the public M-F 10am to 2pm. These programs are proven successful, but we need one central location(preferably in old industrial)to house a a large majority of our AA meetings ect. We LOST 28 meetings when our doors closed, countless lives have been lost. We are looking to you for funding, for a permanent place to rent.We can fix it up. We have plenty of members willing to do the sweat labor. Last year we helped 100's of Alcoholics, through our different committee's. Many homeless with Alcoholism/addictions, fell through the cracks. They have no access to Zoom meetings. We no longer have one central physical location. Our budget is very little. Our contributions, come in the form of whatever someone puts in the basket at a meeting. Our estimate's and county data show that their are THOUSAND'S of people/families on Hawaii Island that need the services of The Kona Alano Club (A sober Club). A actual physical space where the homeless are welcome. Can use a restroom, get a snack, coffee. Catch a few AA, NA, AI-anon meetings. Use a telephone, get their court papers signed, meet with a sponsor, do community service. In short a place free of alcohol and drugs. Meet other people just like themselves, who were homeless and have now recovered. i a If you would be willing to increase our funding from zero, so that we could find a lease month to month, but preferably 3 to 5 years minimum in the old industrial area,where a majority of homeless people can be found on a daily basis. Homelessness on Hawaii Island is a traumatic experience. Whether someone is on the street for one night or 10 years,. (can you even wrap your head around someone in our community being homeless for 10 years)this is not uncommon. It is almost impossible for someone to be relieved of their addiction. Addiction is a family disease. It takes a lot of recourses, love and compassion. Homelessness is a traumatic experience, no human being should ever experience homelessness. the trauma men,women and children experience is complex and vicious. Without proper care of our homeless population, it is likely that, many, many of our family members will become and stay permanently homeless. If each person doesn't have a safe haven, a place for respite, they are likely to become a danger to themselves or others. What's happening now to these folks, the only place they have to go are jails, Institutions and death. t The homeless persons that the Kona Alano Club has helped in pasted years, came from all walks of life. Alcoholism and other addictions, they do not discriminate. If the council doesn't act immediately, in a very short period of time, our Island will most definitely have scores of thousand's more that will become homeless. This is a fact that can be ignored, no longer. i State funding is unreliable and inadequate. The Kona Alano Club knows this only too well.We were refused a grant some years back and were forced to close our doors or be on the hook for a long term commercial lease. It was the hardest decision that we had ever faced. With the ever increasing rent structures, we have not been able to re-open our doors. We have many, many Alcoholics in Recovery today that are willing to be of service at the Alano Club, run meetings, talk to the still sick and suffering Alcoholic. Homeless persons were welcome at the club, it was a place for them to come and rest, get well. The homeless are not welcome anywhere in town. Rest rooms are not even open half the time and definitely not on holidays, when we are celebrating with our families. Just imagine for 1 day, what it would be like not to be able to use a restroom. To be lockout, turned a way. Just imagine that. Imagine you child, or your mother or father, being denied access to a restroom. This is what is happening to our family on the street. We need our county to step up, now. For one and for all. We need to make sure that programs like ours, are here to stay, are well resourced. So that anyone, anywhere that reaches out for help with their addiction, Alcoholism isn't shamed. Put out in the street, moved along, arrested or put in an Institution. . e Comm.No. 1 Ref.Tb: V I CD tA G ._.. (def.Dofe bb; mfact that one alcoholic helping another alcoholic through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, has the greatest long term success for long term sobriety. |th; how westay sober one day atatime. VVelove the Alcoholic until, they can love themselves. We are a fellowship of persons, who share our experience, strength and hope, with the hopeless. This iathe way wmsolve our common problem and help others to recover from Alcoholism and Addiction. I ask you to please, open your hearts. Please join us in supporting our homeless by supporting Bill 111. Together we can take a person hopeless, in mind, body and spirit and bring hope into their life. They can and do recover from Alcoholism and addiction. This happens sometimes quickly, snrnehnnos slowly but it always works, when we work with them.VVork, work. work... K0aho|o. Karen Bohner Kona A|onnClub , l i y(y From: karen Bohner Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 6:30 AM To: Council Testimony Subject: Bill 111 Funding for Homelessness Kona Alano Club Correction I Aloha member of the Council, I need to correct, The Kona Alano Club, does not have a Literature Office in Kona, that is the AA Central Office. Please accept my apology. Thank you very much for your concertation for all services to end homelessness. Mahalo, Karen Bohner Kona Alan Club i