The UH Foundation has authorized the Ah Quon McElrath Fund for Social Change and Justice. The Advertiser asked her: Who today is most in need of social change and justice?

One, I think certainly the homeless need a change in attitude of the way we look at them. Two, those individuals who are without healthcare (including) those whose work lives have been manipulated by the employers so that they don't work 20 hours a week for four consecutive weeks and therefore aren't eligible for healthcare. Three, I feel that it is a crying shame that we have to send our citizens out of the state to be housed in privately run prison systems where they do not provide the amount of services to (rehabilitate) a person. Number four is the elderly. If in fact we will be more than 20 percent of the population ... the number of problems that the elderly will face will be huge in terms of the individuals who will be there to take care of them.

What's often forgotten by today's generation?

Everybody seems to think that today is always what it was. Some of things that we in the ILWU have been trying to do has been to give young people the idea that, look, you didn't bring this about; it was your grandparents, your parents, your great-grandparents, who fought and some of whom died on the job, which is the reason why you have $27-$28 an hour ... a pension plan, a health plan, a safety program, all kinds of things that your parents did not have but had to fight for. And it can be taken away as quickly as you can drop a hat.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.