I ran across a young lady at the V.A. Center for the Aging the other day. She caught my eye because she looked especially young compared to the other volunteers there. Her name is Kanoe Andrade and she is entering the 10th grade at Sacred Hearts Academy.
If she looks familiar, it's because we did a feature on her brother, Cheyne Andrade a year ago.
The Spark Matsunaga Center for the Aging is located on the grounds of Tripler Army Medical Center. It services the entire Pacific Region for the Veteran's Administration.
Kanoe is limited in what she can do because of her inexperience, but, she does everything with her youthful enthusiasm. She visits with the veterans and keeps them mentally active through conversations and activities like arts and crafts. In fact, she's a big help to Heidi who is charged with getting the veterans involved with arts and crafts.
Kanoe can also be seen in the gym where she cleans the rehabilitaion equipment, pick up linens and towels and anything else that the staff needs help with.
She decided to volunteer because her brother Cheyne did so last year and was curious to see what it's like. It'll also help her to determine whether she wants to pursue a career in nursing as her brother has done. Her mother was urging her to go into veterinary medicine but Kanoe isn't sure she can watch an animal die or worse yet, putting an animal to sleep.
A hat tip has to go out to her parents for encouraging the children to do volunteer work rather than wasting the summer hanging out at the beach. Her mother Holly is with the Veteran's Administration and works in the budget office. Kanoe volunteers Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM and rides in with her mother. Her father Wade works for the bus company. It's so refreshing to observe a family like this reach out to help make our community a better one.
In her spare time, Kanoe dances Ballet which she's been involved with since she was four years old. She also would like to get involved with paddling and soccer. Gosh. Her parents must be so proud. I know I would be.
