Point in Time Count

I went on the Point in Time Count this evening. I was on the team with the outreach workers from The Institute for Human Services which coordinates the count in southeast O'ahu. Tonight's area covered Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaimuki, Mo'ili'ili, & Makiki. Those of us working the easterly portion met at the old Honolulu Stadium parking lot and broke up in to 5 smaller teams. I joined the team that was surveying the Kaimuki area. KITV reporter Mika Miyashima came by to do a story about the Point in Time Count. Here's the final clip that aired tonight; between about 0:30 and 0:40 they show the whole team as we were getting ready to go to our survey areas. The individuals seen later are from the team that was surveying people around the old stadium.


Our team was led by Rayna, she's worked at IHS for 4 years but has worked with homeless outreach since 1999. Our team members were Alexis, Jodel, Kanu, Jen, Caroline, & Sam. I sat & talked with  Alexis & Jodel at dinner. Alexis is doing an internship with Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i through AmeriCorps; she intends to go to law school after she completes her AmeriCorps term. Jodel works with the Department of Labor, making sure that employers are paying for former employees that have been laid off. Kanu is an orthopedic surgeon with Kaiser at Moanalua, his wife Jen is a professor at the University of Hawai'i. (Jen actually helped as a substitute in one of Alexis' classes!) Caroline & Sam are students at Hawaii Pacific University in the nursing program.We split up so 4 of us were on each side of the street; our group included Kanu, Jen, Jodel, & myself; we were a very food-oriented group. We had to find something to focus on. We only found 4 homeless people before we met up with the other half of the group; and 2 of them wouldn't talk to us!

Overall our team probably talked to about 20 people, which includes people who wouldn't answer the survey. The count will end on Friday. After that, surveys from all islands will be consolidated into a report that will come out in March. The Point in Time Count is done nationwide to get a handle on how large a problem homelessness is; funding is made available based on the number of people found so it is important to get an accurate count. The count has been going on since 2005, but we still don't seem to have a handle on how to reduce homelessness.

According to my Fitbit we had walked about 10,000 steps and about 4 miles! Overall, today I burned 1,754 calories. And it says I also walked up 8 flights of stairs; there must have been a hill we walked up but I didn't notice it. The Fitbit also said I did 86 minutes of activity.

I also saw another "view" of Leahi! This is #36 of my "36 Views of Leahi". This is a great painting on the side of one of the buildings at Aliiolani Elementary School. (We found our 1st homeless person at the bus stop here; she wouldn't talk to us.)


Happy Birthday to Jesse!