HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolden, Robert
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Robert Golden <rgolden46@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, August 17, 2026 11:24 AM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:Communication 1002 — Testimony in Support of Gary Rosenberg
Aloha Chair and Members of the Hawai ʻ i County Council,
I am writing as President of Puna Rising ʻ Ohana in strong support of Gary Rosenberg’s nomination to
the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee, Communication 1002.
Gary is not simply someone with ideas about community development. He is actively doing the work of
building a more connected, resilient, and regenerative Puna.
On his own farm, Gary has been exploring and demonstrating ways of creating a regenerative local
economy—one in which food, skills, labor, relationships, and resources circulate within our community
rather than continually flowing out of it. He understands that strengthening Puna means strengthening
the relationships among our farmers, families, kūpuna, youth, small businesses, and community
organizations.
Since January, Gary has played an important role in organizing our monthly Puna Community Talk
Story & Potlucks. These gatherings bring residents together not simply to socialize, but to listen to one
another, identify community needs and resources, develop relationships, and discover opportunities for
collaboration. Gary understands that authentic community development begins with people sitting
together, sharing food, talking story, and discovering what they can accomplish together.
Gary has also organized pig butchering and processing programs, helping community members
recover practical food-security skills and demonstrating how locally raised food can remain part of a
local economic ecosystem. This is the kind of hands-on resilience that Puna needs.
He has been an active and thoughtful voice in the development of the Puna Regenerative Exchange,
an emerging initiative designed to identify and connect the gifts, skills, resources, needs, and
opportunities that already exist throughout Puna. Gary understands the deeper principle behind this
work: our community possesses tremendous abundance, but much of that abundance remains
disconnected. Building the relationships that allow those resources to circulate can strengthen both our
economy and our social fabric.
One effort that I find particularly important is Gary’s interest in connecting Puna's youth with our elder
farmers. Many of our older farmers possess decades of agricultural knowledge while increasingly
needing physical assistance to maintain their farms. At the same time, young people need meaningful
opportunities to learn skills, develop relationships with kūpuna, earn income, and understand that
agriculture can have a place in their future. Gary has been working to bring these generations together so
that the strength of our youth can support our elders while the knowledge of our elders is passed
forward.
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These are not abstract planning concepts. They are practical examples of the kind of community-led,
place-based development envisioned by the Puna Community Development Plan.
Gary brings something especially valuable to the Action Committee: he understands Puna at the level of
the farm, the dinner table, the community gathering, and the relationships between neighbors. He is
willing to experiment, collaborate, listen, and—most importantly—turn ideas into action.
Puna needs people on its Action Committee who are not only planning for the community we hope to
become, but who are already helping to create it.
Gary Rosenberg is one of those people.
On behalf of Puna Rising ʻ Ohana, I strongly support his nomination and respectfully urge the Council to
confirm Gary Rosenberg to the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee under
Communication 1002.
Mahalo for your consideration and for your service to our Puna community.
Robert Golden
President
Puna Rising Ohana
T: (917) 447-3700
E: rgolden46@gmail.com
PunaRising.com
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