Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 9, 1 November 1984 — Marge Nihipali is New CRS in Hilo [ARTICLE]

Marge Nihipali is New CRS in Hilo

Former Big lslander Margaret J. Nihipali will be returning to her home island as Community Resource Specialist for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in East Hawaii. Marge, as she prefers to be called, was hired at the Oct. 19 meeting of the OHA Board of Trustees in the Kahului Library, Kahului, Maui. She will begin her new OHA duties Dec. 3.

The Hilo officeat 688 Kinoo!eSt. has been withouta CRS since the resignation last December of Bill Kalei. Clerk-typist Thelma Shimaoka has kept the office open during the interim. Nihipali is currently program director of the Hui Kokua Project at the Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Homes complex. lt is a program of the Susannah Wesley Community Center.

Marge is no stranger to OHA and joins staff with extensive credentials in community work with both private and public agencies. She became acquainted with OHA operations and the duties of the various trustees and officers through working while a college student under the supervision of Kamuela Apuna, Heakh and Human Resources Officer.

She formerly resided in Honokaa where she graduated from Honokaa High School with honors in 1958. Then followed marriage and the subsequent raising of three children who are now adults and on their own. She decided to resume her education in 1979 and enrolled at Brigham Young University Hawaii, graduating in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in social work and a minor in psychology, again with honors. Marge went on to the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus and got her master's degree in social work last August.

She said it has always been her ultimate goaI to return to the Big lsland and serve in some capacity of community work. As a social work student, she also worked with Alu Like. Marge spent seven years with the Eeonomie Opportunity Council and the Department of Sociai Services and Housingon Hawaii, providing her withnumerous opportunities to work with the Hawaiian community. She welcomes the opportunity to relocate to the Big lsland and is eagerly looking forward to serving the OHA constituency in East Hawaii.