CHARITIES

LEGAL SERVICE AGENCY FULFILLS DESPERATE NEED

I fully understand Dr. Donald Char's letter (Oct. 2) expressing his sense of fatigue with non-profits.

As the past director of the state Office of Information Practices, I brought to my position at Volunteer Legal Services Hawai'i a strong sense of accountability.

I believe we have an obligation to be transparent and accountable. That is why our board of directors requires that we prepare an independent audit of our books yearly. We post that audit on our own Web site, www.vlsh.org, and at Guidestar.

Donations go largely toward helping us deliver our services. Our volunteers — who provide free legal services to those who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer — are coached to understand our mission and how we must deliver these services.

We are seeing a 33 percent increase in the people who knock on our doors for legal assistance.

We don't feel "publicly privileged," to use Dr. Char's phrase, so much as we feel publicly called to respond to a desperate need.

To all of you who have donated money, time and energy to the people served by Volunteer Legal Services Hawai'i, we say a heartfelt mahalo nui loa.

JUVENILE DIABETES

NONPROFIT COMMITTED TO FISCAL OVERSIGHT

In light of the several recent reports regarding improprieties in the handling of charitable donations by nonprofit employees, I would like to assure the donors in Hawai'i who have supported the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation that their funds are secure and dedicated to the organization's mission.

As aggressively as JDRF pursues its mission of finding the cure for diabetes and its complications, so too does it aggressively oversee its fiscal operations. The oversight extends even to procedures for opening daily mail, which requires at least two people be present.

The chapter undergoes an annual audit by the home office, a two-day process. All staff are subject to an extensive background check and three local reference checks are required. Although sometimes onerous, these measures are in place for important reasons.

The upcoming Nov. 3 Walk to Cure Diabetes, our signature event and biggest generator of dollars, uses uniformed police to escort the funds to the bank, where bank personnel perform accounting and oversee the immediate deposit of the proceeds.

It is because of such strict and unbending oversight of the funds entrusted to JDRF that each year we rank among the top nonprofits in the country in terms of efficient and capable management of donations.

ADVERTISER

MYANMAR EDITORIAL WAS RUSH TO JUDGMENT

As a news organization representing the 11th largest urban area in the United States, I'm quite dismayed by the rush to judgment in your Oct. 16 editorial on Myanmar.

It reveals an almost total lack of knowledge about the country, particularly its modern history, especially the role of the sangha (Buddhist church) in politics and of the army in attaining independence from Britain.

Both roles were being played out during the recent protests and crackdowns in what is basically a "bread and butter" issue, not political ideology ("democracy") as so often claimed.

Perhaps this lack of knowledge is excusable for The Advertiser with regard to a country 10,000 miles away from O'ahu and nothing to do with Superferries.

But to uncritically take as gospel and regurgitate the statement made by the U.S. State Department's spokesperson at the East-West Center as the basis of your position is not excusable.

She clearly cannot deviate much from official policy to begin with, and quite obviously knows little or nothing about Burma.

Near or far, if you take a position, you have a responsibility to educate yourselves on such issues first.

KO OLINA

O'AHU DISNEY RESORT WOULD BE A MISTAKE

Reading the article about the new Disney resort at Ko Olina (Oct. 4) makes me sick.

As a student at Hawai'i Pacific University, a fairly new person to the island, I believe allowing large companies such as Disney on the sacred grounds of Hawai'i is a step in the wrong direction.

It is bad enough we have Waikiki, which is full of resorts and thousands of tourists flocking there every day. Anyone ever try to drive down there?

Did Disney think about what they are going to do to such a beautiful island? Now is the time to stop the building on this island.

I hope people from HPU and the whole island stand against continued commercialization on O'ahu. It is not too late.

'AINA

SOME HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ISLES' ENVIRONMENT

As an island physician, North Shore resident and nature lover, I am dismayed by the lack of respect shown by some for Hawai'i's environment and its animal inhabitants. While walking on the beach this past weekend, I saw multiple people grabbing, lifting and harrasing sea turtles. That has no place in Hawai'i.

After informing this group that touching turtles is illegal, I was almost assaulted by one irate individual and informed that haoles can go home and that as a local he can do whatever he wants to the turtles. What kind of example is he is setting for all the young children in his large group?

Equally disturbing is the large amount of junk and old furniture that is being dumped along Hawai'i's highways. Driving home, we noted almost an entire living room discarded along the highway. This shows disregard for the environment and is illegal.

My family has lived here for almost 40 years and has never disrespected the environment in this manner or set such a bad example for our Islands' children.

We all have to live together on an island with limited resources, and to let a few rotten apples ruin it would be a shame.