Pulehu Chicken for Project Grad

One of the things I love most about our community is how we come together to benefit youth and children.
Last night, parents and former students prepared pulehu chicken for a fundraising project for Waimea High School's Project Grad. I was on the night shift- 10PM to 5:30 AM.

Kiawe wood was gathered, cut, and burned for hot coals. It was good to see Waimea alumni, son Steven, Kenny (UH Football Warrior #37), Ryan and John there to help out!

Hawaiian salt was mixed with paprika and rubbed into the beautiful XL chicken halves.

From Pulehu Chicken 3/27/10

The chicken was loaded into special cooking racks and then carried over to the fire pit where it was slow-broiled cooked to juicy perfection.

From Pulehu Chicken 3/27/10

The cook-master monitored the heat and indicated when the chickens needed to huli - or turn over.

The ladies and guys enjoyed coffee and food while the cooking was going on. Did I mention that it was very chilly (63 F when I headed home at 5:45AM) and our hands felt frozen when we prepped the chicken? Perfect cooking weather, actually!

When the internal temperature reached "done" and the color was right, the racks were removed and chicken was unloaded, wrapped in foil and placed in large coolers to keep them hot.

From Pulehu Chicken 3/27/10

This process was repeated three more times until the 900 servings of chicken were all cooked, wrapped and loaded on a trailer to take to the pick-up location in Waimea and the morning shift of workers who did the distribution.

I went home and crashed. When I woke up, I had some chicken with lettuce and tomato for lunch. It was DEE-LICIOUS! Not too salty, not too smoky, and VERY juicy!
What a great night to hang out, talk story, work hard and enjoy doing something that would benefit our kids!

Thanksgiving Imu

"It takes a village to raise a child"...

And one of the best examples of our Waimea village efforts is the Project Grad Thanksgiving Imu fundraiser.

Parents of the high school seniors prepare the high school imu (traditional Hawaiian cooking pit) and sell tickets. For $10 for every 15 lbs. of prepared food (a seasoned turkey, pork butts, rice pudding, etc.), community members can have their Thanksgiving feast cooked.
Yesterday afternoon, the food was accepted and loaded into baskets and placed into the imu to cook overnight.

Early this morning, parent volunteers opened the imu- shoveling away the sand, and removing the tarp.

The burlap bags and banana leaves covering the food were removed and because it started raining, the wooden skips were moved into the shed to facilitate pickup.

This was hard work- carrying the heavy, steaming baskets of food through the pouring rain.

The rain did not dampen spirits, however. The aroma of the food was heavenly! When all the food was removed, the imu was cleaned and will be ready for the Christmas cooking!

I was amazed by the cool identification system. Every basket had a metal ID tag and every bundle was clearly marked with the owner's name. A piece of paper with it's number was placed on each basket.

When the owners came to pick up their food, their bundle was located by basket number and name and brought to the pickup table.

And so it continued until the last bundles were claimed and another successful community fundraiser for our kids was completed!
Side note- the young man in the last picture and I directed traffic in the pouring rain. I always keep a water-resistant jacket in my car and it sure came in handy today! It was my Hawaii All-State Band jacket from the 2005 Macy's Parade!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!