On November 3, 1998 Hawaii District
5000 Rotarians undertook a huge project to place Kid's
Voting polling places in every regular polling place in the
entire state, as well as getting voting information to all schools several
months before the election, so that the process could be taught by Hawaii
teachers.
These picures were taken at Konawaena High School,
on the Big Island of Hawaii, where the Rotary Club of Kona Mauka, and the
Kona Rotary Club Facilitated the process, and the Konawaena 4H and Interact
Clubs actually formed the group which joyfully carried out all the actual
Polling Place work.
I was so moved, I wrote the poem herein, after I returned
home from this beautiful experience which, I am sure, will become a tradition
in Hawaii Rotary.
Richard Harrison
Kona Mauka Rotary Club
November 4, 1998
Two Voters Outside the Polling Place
Registration Desk
Signing In and Getting Your Ballot
Filling Out Your Ballot
Ballot into the Official Ballot Box
The Happy Ballot Box Crew
Happy Kona Mauka Rotarian Daryl, Who Smiles
for All of Us!
'birth'
this day was blessed
with the laughter of children
learning to make a difference
in a world where few care
to make any at all
I saw them
eyes wide with excitement
as they registered each other
signed
voted
and talked of the process
with their friends
and with the parents
they had walked in with holding
hands
who had always cared what
kind of world
they would inherit
-parents who now knew
with gladness in their hearts
that the process of claiming
ownership
to this vibrant garden of
promises
had on this very special
Tuesday
most radiantly begun
it was a good day
for all of us
for those green growing beginnings
for the turning of seasons
and as we grow through this
giving
you and I and all the young
and old children of this new Hawaii
now share the secret key
that for every sunset of
this dance
every stumble in our stride
there follows a brilliant
dawn
painted in the embracing
colors of conviction
on the deep infinite sky
of promise
Written this Election Day,
November 3, 1998,
in reference to Rotary District
5000's far-reaching,
state-wide 'Kid's Voting'
project......
Richard Harrison
11/3/98
Kona Mauka Rotary
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