| THE AKANA FAMILY |
Eleven years ago, Momi Akana was a single mother on welfare who started the Keiki O Ka Aina (KOKA) Family Learning Center, a non-profit organization that supports the native Hawaiian community. In the early stages, Momi was using her food stamps to buy snacks for the center and used all of her resources to create programs for struggling moms and their kids. She even shared her home with KOKA as the top floor was dedicated to the center, and the family was crammed in to two bedrooms downstairs. Just one month ago, KOKA moved out of the house after it received a grant to purchase property for a new center. However, the property is in poor condition and there are a lot of repairs needed on both the new KOKA center and the Akana home.
Momi and her three children, Axton (14), Sophia (12) and Bryxan (8), tried to keep up with the house and make improvements, but they never had the expertise to create and build anything properly. In addition, a massive flood in 2004 washed away a significant portion of the home’s foundation. One year ago, Momi met her husband, Ben, and they were married six months later. Soon after, their daughter Poli was born with Downs Syndrome. Momi took this as a blessing and a sign, and created classes at the center for parents of special needs children.
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