Members of the budding organization E’ola Molokai and other concerned residents of Molokai rallied Monday near Kulana ‘Oiwi. Many of the roughly 60 community members carried placards that read such things as “Support Molokai/Save Our Jobs” and “No Job/No Life/No Molokai.”

“We’re just making our awareness to the rest of the community,” said E’ola Molokai representative Keoni Lindo. “That it’s time to step forward, time to come together and stand together to make a change in our community.”
The newly formed E’ola Molokai is a local, grassroots organization that collected 417 names under a statement of concern regarding the closure of Hawaii-based companies and the prospect of more job losses statewide.

“These are people of the community that are concerned about the recent loss of jobs,” said E’ola Molokai member Dawn Bicoy. “They love their community, they want to keep their jobs and they are worried about the economic impact of the loss of 120 jobs that just happened – and the nine million dollars that just stepped out of the economy.”

“What we’re trying to say is that we’re concerned about the loss of jobs,” added Bicoy.

“I, myself, am going to be out of a job shortly,” said Lindo. “I have nothing to lose but to come out here and make a statement saying enough is enough; it’s time for a change … We got to get together and get to our government representative to say: hey, this is our group, this is their voice.”

At the time of the rally, the Molokai Action Team, whose membership includes statewide political and economic leaders, was meeting at Kulana ‘Oiwi’s DHHL conference room.

“We would like them [the Action team] to come out and meet the people that is being affected,” said Lindo. “So we invited them to come out and talk with the people and hear the stories straight from them.”

“These guys are come out on their own time, they’re not getting paid,” added Lindo, speaking of many of those in attendance at the rally. “They’re just concerned.”

Although many of the members of Molokai's Action Team took flight after their meeting, or simply stayed inside and ate lunch, the Team's chairman Abbey Mayer and some other members did converse with the ralliers.

"There was some other task force members out there as well, but i'm not sure if i remember exactly who," said Mayer, who, according to him, spoke with roughly two dozen ralliers. "Everybody was going around individually."

"Mostly people were concerned about their jobs, some about their future employment, some about their lack of present employment," said Mayer. "I was glad to see people come out, i am glad to hear another voice and glad to see people coming out to voice what they felt was important."

The Molokai Action team held its second meeting to further explore potential solutions to the island’s short and long-term economic problems. The team was put together by Gov. Linda Lingle to address problems caused on-island by the April 5 closure of Maunaloa’s Molokai Ranch. The Action Team is trying to come up with short and long term solutions including economic stimulus and job creation. More than 120 jobs were lost when the Ranch closed its doors. Ranch employees are officially off the payroll May 22.