Miraculous Volunteer Building Day!
WE ARE SO GRATEFUL! THE HORSES ARE SO HAPPY!
On Saturday, April 25, 2026, we received a huge gift from AOK Foundation, The Home Depot and Luanna Kuhns. AOK Foundation organized an incredible volunteer building day for Hoku Lio Farms. The Home Depot donated the materials and brought a dozen volunteers. Luanna Kuhns connected us with AOK, sponsored the feeding of the volunteers and covered additional costs. More than 30 volunteers from AOK, The Home Depot, Kalani HIgh School Engineering Class and Hoku Lio Farms came together to replace the storm damaged roofs of the existing horse shelter and feed room and build a brand new shelter for Navar!
The horses couldn’t be happier! Navar now has proper shelter from the rain, sun and wind, and just as importantly he is so pleased to be able to be close to the rest of his herd. Sara now has a solid roof to keep her dry. (Her previous roof had been damaged and rain had been landing on her!) The feed room, also storm damaged and leaking, has a new roof too - so hay and feed is now safe from rain.
We have so many heartwarming stories about this wonderful day, and I would like to share two of them.
The volunteers that came were incredibly caring and conscientious. For the horses’ safety we had requested that no bits of trash or construction materials stayed on the ground as young horses put everything in their mouths! Many thoughtful hands kept the building site cleaned up during the build. It turned out to be a really good thing as Navar made a surprise inspection of the site just before lunchtime. We had made a temporary pen for him to keep him safely contained during the workday, but he found its weakness and before we saw it coming, he was standing right in the middle of the construction site! He approved all the improvements and was moved to safety, but insisted on staying nearby to supervise.
Navar enjoys his new stall wit his herd nearby.
Sara loves her new roof and dry stall, but being out in the arena all day was hard for her. She was hot, and uncomfortable and really wanted to go to her own paddock. To help Sara cope with the stress, fourth graders Oliver and Joaquin brushed her in the classroom for over an hour! She was so grateful for their love and companionship during the exciting and noisy work day.
Sara enjoying the grooming and love!
Special thanks to ninth grader Alex for setting up and running the sign-in table, drinks and lunch, and all the little details all day long. She was amazing and made everything run smoothly.
Mahalo to everyone who volunteered! It's a miracle to have received this huge community support to help us recover after the storms.
