Community Rallies To Help Calvary Outreach Missions

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Neil Campanano of BluWater Grill gets all fired up at the Calvary By The Sea benefit, Taste of East Oahu. Photo by Byron Lee,

Several chefs did not spoil the pot at Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church’s successful Taste of East Oahu, held April 19 at the church to benefit its mission programs.

Popular restaurants and chefs from all over Oahu - including Roy’s Hawaii Kai, Sabrina’s on Waialae, and BluWater Grill with chef/owner Bill Bruhl in Hawaii Kai - contributed to the gala benefit for the church’s Angel Network, Montessori preschool and its youth group.

According to Marilyn Hamada, the event nearly sold out its 500 seats, with guests paying $50 each to enjoy an assortment of food, wine and beer at one of the area’s best shoreline settings.

“We were very thankful to the community for supporting it,” Hamada said. “We wanted to make it an East Oahu event, not just a church event.”

Proceeds go to the congregation’s many outreach programs. For example, Angel Network, founded by Ivy Olsen in 1990 to assist the homeless, began as a temporary shelter for single mothers and was inspired by Olsen’s own experiences.

An earlier fundraiser for Angel Network this year, Prairie Homeless Companion, raised about $5,000.

“It went really, really well,” exclaimed coordinator Christiane Lucas. “It was really from the heart, and just really good.”

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