The Guardian Continued a sophomore at Kamehameha Schools. “I remember being struck with how beautiful it was, but it was so empty,” she recalls. Akana, a history buff, minored in Hawaiian archaeology and anthropology in college. As a reporter, she was drawn to stories about artifacts that made their way back to the palace—an antique chair found at Goodwill or a table located on the Mainland. She talks about the palace with reverence, as though the building is a living person. “She’s 138 years old and showing her age. So even though millions were spent on restoring her… (it) needs so much more help,” Akana says. Each day brings a new challenge. Her schedule might include a long Zoom call and climbing up to the roof to look at leaks. Her people and communication skills came in handy, but now she’s tackling the ins and outs of administration, writing contracts and creating budgets during a pandemic. Visitors brought in 90% of the palace’s revenue until everything came to a halt in March. Careful budget cuts, donations and a paycheck protection program loan helped. Now, docent tours are back and the gift shop has moved online. “It was—and still is—an unsure time, but we’re pushing along,” Akana says. The pandemic strengthened Akana’s commitment to protect the palace and she believes her career change was meant to be. “The palace is such an important part of our history” she says. “I feel more of a real urgency to Learn more take care of her, not just for about Living Your us, but for future generaBest Life: tions.” aarp.org/ disruptaging
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AARP HAWAI‘I
Fighting Fraud Together Eight ways AARP Hawai‘i can help you protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud.
T
hey’re out to get you. Whether it’s someone pretending to be a COVID-19 contact tracer or calling to offer tech support for your computer, criminals keep coming up with new ways to trick you into giving out personal information or giving them money. In worst-case scenarios, people lose their entire hard-earned retirement savings. That’s why in 2013, AARP launched the Fraud Watch Network as a trusted resource to track, in real time, scams happening all across the country and in your neighborhood. Criminals often target kūpuna because they generally have more money saved than younger people. “Scammers don’t care how hard you worked,” says Craig Gima, communications director of AARP Hawai‘i. “They’ll steal savings you spent a lifetime accumulating without hesitation and once it is gone, it is nearly impossible to get back. They are smart and they are ruthless and they are always coming up with new ways to steal your money. That’s why the Fraud Watch Network was created.”
illustrations: getty images
LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)