By JOHN BURNETT Tribune-Herald staff writer ADVERTISING Waves of cars passed through the Tesoro gas station at the corner of Kamehameha Avenue and Ponahawai Street Thursday. The reason? Well, there was more than one. Discount gas — regular was $4.33
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Waves of cars passed through the Tesoro gas station at the corner of Kamehameha Avenue and Ponahawai Street Thursday.
The reason? Well, there was more than one. Discount gas — regular was $4.33 per gallon — plus a chance for customers to get tanks filled and windshields cleaned by officers from the Hawaii Police Department and members of the Hawaii Air National Guard in a Special Olympics fundraiser called “Help Fuel the Dreams”
“Gas prices are 10 cents lower than it normally is, which is 20 cents lower than everyone else,” said Carey Uchida, Hawaii Special Olympics East Hawaii area director. “And the officers from the police department and the Hawaii Air National Guard are doing an awesome job.”
Police Lt. Darren Horio said the officers were all off duty and volunteering their time.
“Most of these guys just got off the midnight shift, so they came down from work and are helping us out today,” he said. “This is a blast. It’s good to get off duty and associate with the public and show them that we’re humans, too.”
Officer Aaron Kaleo said that helping Special Olympics makes him feel good.
“It’s fun to be around the athletes and all of the volunteers,” he said. “It’s a very worthy cause. We want to make sure it’s a successful event. All the money raised here stays here. That’s very important for us.”
A few Special Olympics athletes watched as the officers and Guard personnel worked and collected donations that will allow them to travel to Oahu for the state competition.
“It feels good to know that people actually care enough to come out and help us go to Oahu. To me, it means a lot,” said 24-year-old Tim Chee, a Special Olympian who competes in baseball and track.
Clyde Almeida waited in a three-car-deep line in his impeccable red-and-white 1956 Chevy while the car’s stereo played The Chiffons’ 1963 hit “One Fine Day.”
“You gotta take advantage of what’s happening,” he said, referring to the reduced-price fuel. “We have these cars; we want to enjoy ’em. We gotta break ’em out every once in a while.”
Asked why he was there, a man who identified himself only as “Dino” said, “To donate some money to the good cause, man.”
Added fellow customer Natasha Folkerts: “I just made a donation, so hopefully it goes a long ways.”
The sun, which has made only cameo appearances as of late in Hilo, broke free of its midday cloud cover and Christy Lassiter sported a stylish pair of shades as she smiled and talked story with Hawaii Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Kalei Angay, who fueled and cleaned the windshields of her Mercedes.
“I saw the signage and Special Olympics is such a wonderful project … so I decided to go to where all the good-looking men are,” she said. “I found Kalei and I made a donation. We have some wonderful people in our community who take advantage of these programs, and the more we can do to support them in these times, the better. It’s really critical.”
Tesoro Hawaii spokesman Nathan Hokama said the fundraiser continues today only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the downtown Hilo Tesoro station. He said that the Queen Kaahumanu Highway Tesoro in Kailua-Kona also took part in Fueling Dreams on Thursday, and nine stations on Oahu are also involved.
“This is the seventh year that we’ve been doing this,” he said. “Tesoro Hawaii is a mission partner of Hawaii Special Olympics. … We’re committed to raising and/or contributing $75,000 for special Olympics in Hawaii this year, and the Fueling Dreams fundraiser is a part of that.”
Hokama added that Tesoro’s convenience stories are also collecting Special Olympics contributions through March 7.
Email John Burnett at
jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
