September 2019

Key Club did not exist at my high school while I was there. The year after I graduated from Aiea High School, my former Japanese teacher and second mother, Ruby Sonomura, started up the Key Club. Years later, I told her I was hired as a counselor at Leilehua High School. She did not miss a beat and immediately told me to help her old friend Keith Fukumoto, the Key Club Advisor at Leilehua, with the Key Club. That was the beginning of my association with the K-Family and with each passing year, my understanding, commitment and involvement with the Kiwanis Family deepened culminating with my Presidency this past year.

As I reflect on my year as the President of our small but mighty Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor, I am amazed and impressed with the tremendous amount of volunteer hours our club performs each year. Although our name is the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor, our membership stretches from the East in Honolulu to the North in Wahiawa and to the way out West in Waianae. Our club members give willingly of their time to volunteer whenever needed, supervise, attend meetings, plan events, take pictures, update our Website, fundraise, create videos, make phone calls on specific dates to reserve our meeting site, answer emails, compile and file reports, work with other organizations and Kiwanis Clubs, and countless other ways to serve our schools and communities. Without this wonderful group of volunteers, the five Key Clubs we sponsor would need to find another sponsoring Kiwanis Club, would not be able to do many of their service projects, and would not be able to attend conferences to name a few.

With that I would like to express my sincerest and most heartfelt thank you so very much to the members of our Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor! Your unwavering commitment to serve and to our club, your enormous heart of gold, and your tremendous patience with me as your President continues to make our small club one of the mightiest volunteer organizations I am extremely proud to be a member of!

~ Judy Watanabe

August 2019

Although my drive to our August Mighty Mo service project was a brief seventeen minutes, I pondered on the thousands of service hours our Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor and our sponsored Key Clubs contribute each year to bettering our schools, homes, communities, and nation. Collectively, we make a difference contributing to the lives of more people than we will ever know. We are thanked by many for the hours of service we provide but there are service projects we complete that we never meet the benefactors of our labor. For example, a simple yet meaningful piece of history is forged from original Battleship Missouri teak into bookmarks. On the last Saturday of each month, our Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor Family works together sometimes making these bookmarks. The bookmarks are sold at the Battleshop where millions of visitors from all over the world see them, possibly purchase them and take this piece of history home. Our volunteer hours contribute to conversation starters, “the place I fell asleep” markers in books, a meaningful gift for history buffs, and a wonderful memory of a trip to where World War II ended. Community service is who we are and we do not need accolades or thank yous for the service we do. And since we will never meet all the benefactors of our service, I want to personally thank everyone in our Kiwanis Family for your commitment to doing community service. A sincere and heartfelt, thank you so very much, your service is appreciated by more than you know!

~ Judy Watanabe

July 2019

On Saturday, July 27, 2019, I was fortunate to attend the Nisei Veterans Summer Special held at the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Education Center. There were some Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) in attendance as well as their children, grandchildren, or other relatives and friends. As I toured the center and then sat down to listen to the speakers and the reading of “Okaasan”, I was struck by a similarity between the 100th Infantry Battalion and the Kiwanis. The Kiwanis Mission is that “Kiwanis empowers communities to improve the world by making lasting differences in the lives of children.” I think the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team “improved the world by making lasting differences in the lives of children” when they fought gallantly and became “the most decorated unit for its size and length of service.” These soldiers fought “...two wars, the war against the Germans in Europe and the war against racial prejudice in America.” These soldiers battled against all odds to improve the world for future generations, like ours, so we can live, work, and enjoy the freedoms that did not exist prior to the war. These soldiers truly made lasting differences and although we are not at war, we, the Kiwanis, continue tirelessly to “empower communities to improve the world by making lasting differences in the lives of children,” one community and one child at a time.

~ Judy Watanabe

June 2019

Service is at the heart of what it means to be a Kiwanis member. On the last Saturday of each month, our Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor and its sponsored Key Clubs are onboard the USS Missouri, affectionately known as the Mighty Mo, doing community service from turning original teak wood from the ship into bookmarks sold in the Battleshop, polishing silver in the galley or brass in the War Room, to sweeping, moving, or helping children with arts and crafts. I never tire of our community service on the Mighty Mo nor do any of our members, Kiwanis guests, and Key Club members.

Each time I disembark from the Roberts tour bus that shuttles tourists and volunteers to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites, I am impressed with the view of the Mighty Mo silently and proudly resting at the end of the walkway lined by waving American flags. The flags are not waving every time we are there but on most Saturdays, they wave proudly honoring all of its visitors. This simple, yet meaningful sight reminds me of service, service to our country by the Mighty Mo and all her military personnel, service by the thousands of volunteers that came to remove barnacles, paint, and restore her upon her arrival in Hawaii, service by retired military personnel who lead tours onboard and provide a living history to all fortunate to take their tours, service by our volunteer coordinators Kevin and Nobue who ensure all who want to volunteer have meaningful jobs to do, service by volunteers like our Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor, and service by students, the future generation, who continue to maintain and serve the Mighty Mo.

~ Judy Watanabe

May 2019

The first Key Club Installation Banquet I ever attended was Waipahu High School’s, over a decade ago. I was impressed with the formality of the event, the number of proud families in attendance, and the excited and nervous Key Clubbers watching everyone arrive, ensuring their event ran as scheduled, and rehearsing their parts.

This year, I attended Waipahu High School’s Key Club Installation Banquet after years of missing their wonderful event. Fond memories of attending my first banquet rushed back as I walked through the decorated entrance. Tables were decorated throughout the cafeteria, Key Club family members dined on a delicious buffet of American and Filipino entrees and desserts, and Key Club officers were semi-formally dressed in black and white.

The event ran like clockwork, students were prepped and listening for their cues to walk on stage. Family members joined each Key Club officer on stage. Candles were lit and extinguished as each new officer was installed and each past officer was retired. Applause and an inspirational speech by the newly installed Key Club President closed the event. Another successful Waipahu High School Key Club Installation Banquet came to a conclusion, the passing of the torch was completed, and a new Key Club Board was ready to go.

Traditions and events such as Key Club Installation Banquets are essential to inform and inspire Key Club members to run for future officer positions. The Waipahu High School Key Club and its advisors do an excellent job of upholding this fine tradition.

~ Judy Watanabe