Projects & Stewardship
Caring for the Places Entrusted to Us
For more than 90 years, the Waialua Community Association has served and cared for places that bring our community together. Today, that kuleana includes preserving and improving our historic community facility while taking on the long-term stewardship of Puʻuiki Beach Park.
Our approach is simple: care for what we have, improve it responsibly, and plan thoughtfully for the generations who will follow.
Through community support, volunteers, partnerships and outside funding, WCA works to preserve these important community assets while improving their safety, accessibility, environmental health and usefulness to the people of Waialua.
Preserving Our Historic Community Facility
WCA's historic facility has served generations of Waialua families as a place to gather, learn, celebrate, recreate and support one another. Preserving an aging community facility requires continual care, and WCA is committed to maintaining and improving the property so it can continue serving our community well into the future.
Our work includes building and grounds maintenance, repairs, accessibility and safety improvements, infrastructure upgrades, landscaping and larger capital projects. Whenever possible, donated materials and volunteer labor are combined with WCA resources and grant funding, allowing us to accomplish more while making the community an active participant in caring for its own gathering place.
Before. After
Community Working Together
Some of WCA's most meaningful improvements happen when community members, businesses and organizations work alongside us.
Volunteer workdays help accomplish projects that would otherwise be difficult for a small nonprofit to undertake. Donations of materials, professional services and financial support allow those volunteer efforts to go even further.
Every repaired building, renewed landscape and completed project represents an investment in keeping this historic community resource in service to Waialua.
More than just a Building: Recent back to back Kona Low storms caused devastating flooding in the Waialua/Haleiwa Communities. The WCA and the community responded immediately
Environmental Stewardship Begins at Home
A place to share stories
Caring for our community also means caring for the ʻāina around us.As landscaping at the WCA facility is renewed, we are working to replace appropriate areas with native Hawaiian trees and plants and create a landscape that better reflects Hawaiʻi's natural environment and Waialua's sense of place.
This is not simply a future goal. WCA has already begun making these changes.
By incorporating native plants as existing landscaping is replaced and improved, we are taking practical steps toward a more thoughtful and environmentally responsible landscape while creating opportunities for our community to learn about and appreciate Hawaiʻi's native plants.
What We've Done. What Comes Next.
Stewardship is an ongoing process. Some improvements are accomplished through a single project; others happen gradually as funding, volunteers and resources become available.
Our goal is not to transform everything overnight. It is to make each improvement part of a thoughtful long-term direction for WCA's properties.
That same philosophy now guides our work at Puʻuiki Beach Park.
Pu'uiki Beach Park
A Gift. A Kuleana. A Vision for the future
WCA's stewardship responsibilities grew significantly when the Association was gifted Puʻuiki Beach Park, approximately 9.5 acres of coastal land in Waialua.
With that extraordinary gift came an equally important responsibility: to care for the property, address years of deferred needs, protect its natural and cultural character, and thoughtfully plan how it can serve the community in the future.
Initial work focuses on the fundamentals—property cleanup and maintenance, addressing hazardous conditions, invasive vegetation, fencing, infrastructure needs and understanding the environmental conditions of the site.
At the same time, WCA is looking beyond immediate repairs toward a long-term vision for Puʻuiki that balances community use, environmental restoration and responsible stewardship.
Planning Before Building
We believe good stewardship begins with understanding the land before making permanent decisions.
WCA is therefore pursuing funding and professional partnerships to support comprehensive assessment and planning for Puʻuiki Beach Park. Proposed future work would examine existing site and environmental conditions, coastal resources, vegetation, utilities, circulation and community needs before establishing a long-term plan for restoration and appropriate improvements.
WCA has been developing a potential collaboration with the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center (UHCDC) and other community and environmental partners to help guide this process. These proposed activities are dependent upon securing funding and should not yet be considered funded projects.
Building for the Future
WCA's work at its historic community facility and Puʻuiki Beach Park may look different, but they share the same purpose.
We are preserving places that matter to Waialua.
We are improving what previous generations entrusted to us, restoring what needs care, and making thoughtful decisions about what comes next.
And we cannot do it alone. Community members, volunteers, businesses, foundations, government partners and individual donors all have a role in helping WCA continue this work.
Together, we can care for these places today so they remain part of Waialua's community tomorrow.