A helping hand for pastor’s mission
Published 9:39 pm Friday, April 2, 2010
EVERETT — In some minds, last year’s tsunami in the South Pacific has receded to a relative ripple next to recent, devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.
Not for Kila Leapaga Sr. and a band of dedicated volunteers. In the months since the September disaster killed more than 30 people and displaced hundreds in American Samoa, Leapaga has been steering relief back to the land where he was born.
This week, volunteers helped the Everett pastor fill a 20-foot-long shipping container in the parking lot off Hewitt Avenue.
“I want to thank them for what they’re doing,” he said. “Without them, I can’t do anything.”
The staging area is next to A Ray of Hope Mission where Leapaga, or “Papa Kila” as he is known, serves free daily breakfasts. StarKist, which produces the majority of its tuna in American Samoa and Ecuador, donated the shipping container.
The big metal box is scheduled to leave the parking lot filled with clothing, canned food, blankets and toys Wednesday, bound for the Pacific islands, via Oakland, Calif. Leapaga plans to fly to American Samoa, at his own expense, to distribute goods at the other end.
A long list of people gave time, money and possessions to make all of that possible.
There’s the Tevagas, a Marysville couple who contributed dozens of boxes and loaned out a truck.
There’s Frank Moon and Sherry Ahnee, husband and wife, who own Oahu’s Hawaiian Restaurant on Evergreen Way. They make a weekly appeal to patrons and staff for the American Samoa relief efforts.
“Every Friday and Saturday, when we have music going on, we remind people,” Moon said.
There’s also Pastor John Mack, founder of Holy Ghost Revival, as well as husband and wife Donald and Romi Moody, who are senior pastors at the south Everett church. Donald Moody said he has visited the islands and was surprised by the poverty there even before disaster struck.
“I can imagine what it looks like now,” he said.
The couple said their congregants have been big contributors to the cause.
“We’re coming together to support his cause so he can get those people help, clothing, care,” Romi Moody said.
George Druker, general manager of the Motel 6 on Evergreen Way, gave lost-and-found items such as clothes and backpacks that weren’t picked up after a month or more. Other donations came from Kimberly-Clark and Costco.
Once he gets back from American Samoa, Leapaga said he wants to fill another shipping container for a different cause: Haiti.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
