More than 450 Maui seniors gathered Saturday for the 53rd Kupuna Aloha
Luncheon to meet old friends, partake of a hotel-style lunch buffet, take
home some prize drawings and honor Kupuna Advocates of the Year Kathy
Collins and Hedy Udarbe.
“Our kupuna carry the knowledge. They carry the spirit and the cultural
continuity of our island,” said Mayor Richard Bissen at the luncheon. “It
is our kuleana to ensure that they are honored and included and most
importantly, protected.”
The annual event, held in the Grand Wailea Ballroom, was hosted by the Maui
County Planning & Coordinating Council (P&CC) and produced by Maui Economic
Opportunity, Inc. The P&CC is an organization of leaders of Maui County’s
senior clubs under MEO’s umbrella of services.
The cost for the event and meals is paid for by the senior clubs, through
fundraisers, the attendees and funds raised through advertising tables. The
Grand Wailea also provides the venue and the buffet at affordable rates.
MEO buses transported about 300 kupuna to and from the event, a service
provided under MEO’s Maui County Human Services Transportation grant.
The Kupuna Aloha Luncheon began more than 5 decades ago through the effort
of MEO Executive Director and former Speaker of the House Joe Souki,
current MEO CEO Debbie Cabebe told the crowd. He organized area councils or
ku clubs to enable residents to voice their opinions on issues and offer
solutions. The ku clubs evolved into the senior clubs – which currently
total 1,650 members.
A highlight of the luncheon was honoring of the Kupuna Advocates of the
Year, who received certificates from the state Legislature, presented by
state Sen. Troy Hashimoto and Reps. Kyle Yamashita and Tyson Miyake, and
congratulatory remarks provided by Maui County Council Members Yuki Lei
Sugimura and Tasha Kama, both past honorees of the award,
Collins is well known in the community as a radio personality; storyteller;
theater, film and TV actor; and emcee of many community events, including
the Kupuna Aloha Luncheon and Maui County Senior Fair. In fact, Collins
revived her alter ego, Tita, for the gathering, telling the Japanese fable
“Issun-boshi” in pidgin.
Much of her life was spent working at Hale Mahaolu, offering information on
home personal care and other services and financial assistance, and Kaunoa
Senior Services, where she ran the congregate meal program and planned
events and activities for kupuna. She also was involved in organizing the
Maui Branch Office of the Alzheimer’s Association Hawaii and the annual
Memory Walk fundraiser.
Collins dedicated the award to her mother, Yaemi Shibasaki Yogi, who passed
at age 99 in May.
“She was my biggest supporter and influence,” she told the gathering. “It’s
because of my Mom that I am here today. . . . She’s the one who has
inspired me through her example of volunteerism and compassion and just
pure aloha.”
Her Mom would often ask Collins to join her at volunteer activities,
including her two decades with Maui Adult Day Care Center.
“I humbly accept this honor on her behalf,” Collins said, noting that her
son and his family, who flew in from Michigan for Mrs. Yogi’s funeral
earlier this month, and her aunties and cousins were in the audience.
Udarbe is currently the president of the 55-year-old Lahaina Honolua Senior
Citizens Club, one of the oldest and influential senior clubs in the
county. Taking over as president last year from Arleen Gerbig, a past
Kupuna Advocate of the Year, Udarbe has been working to restore the club
that lost one member to the 2023 wildfires and had more than 40 others lose
their homes.
An immigrant from the Philippines, Udarbe worked at Clinical Laboratories
for 50 years and oversaw the company’s 13 clinics on Maui, Oahu, Hawai`i
Island and Kauai. She moved to Maui with her family in 2016 after retiring.
She is a member of the P&CC and volunteers at Binhi at Ani and the gift
shop at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church.
Udarbe used her remarks to rally kupuna.
“Let us continue to uplift one another, continue to recognize our kupunas’
wisdom and experiences,” she said. “They are the treasure of our heritage.”
“We spend most of our lives catering for our family and for others,” she
continued. “It’s time that we spend our time for ourselves. Starting today,
when you go out that door, do something that makes you smile, something
that makes your heart sing. Do something wonderful because you are
wonderful.”
Keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda took aim at federal-budget cutting,
which threatens MEO’s Community Service Block Grant, senior employment and
low income energy program funding.
“I am so grateful that we have angels amongst us like MEO,” she said. “And
I know it’s a scary time Debbie (Cabebe). I am scared too.
“But we are going to fight and get through this together, because entities
like MEO, senior clubs, organizations . . . make us a stronger state and a
stronger community, and that’s why we have to make sure that MEO and every
senior entity and organization out there continues to exist.
“That is what we are fighting for.”
Hedy Udarbe (left) and Kathy Collins, Kupuna Advocates of the Year for
2025, share a moment on stage after accepting their awards.
About 15 vendors, which included Maui County lawmakers and companies and
entities offering services to kupuna, drew crowds before the beginning of
the program.
More than 300 seniors from as far as Hana and Lahaina took an MEO bus to and
from the Kupuna Aloha Luncheon on Saturday at the Grand Wailea.