honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 23, 2008

HAWAI'I KAI
Garage sale raises $5,000 for Kenya hospital well

Advertiser Staff

An "upscale garage sale" in Hawai'i Kai on Saturday raised nearly $5,000 to help a Kane'ohe woman build a well for a hospital in Kenya in a town where she was born 86 years ago.

Alice Yoder, who was born at the site of Githumu Hospital outside Nairobi, needed several thousand dollars to meet her goal of $30,000 to build the well. The sale brought in $4,937, and Yoder said she has received many calls and expects to receive more contributions in the next few days.

She plans to personally deliver the money as soon as the U.S. State Department lifts a travel warning for Kenya.

The hospital has never had a well and relies on rainwater caught in a cistern. When that dries up, they use river water.

Several hundred people came on Saturday, with many lining up an hour before the sale opened, organizers said.