Ka Lima O Maui

Specialties

Employment Services for Persons with Disabilities, Landscape/​Maintenance and Custodial Services, Job skill/​life skills and work training, Disabled Adult Day-​Care

History

Established in 1955.

First conceived in 1955 to help recovering tuberculosis patients — individuals who were physically weakened as a result of the damage to their lungs from the disease and who were stigmatized by their illness.

New medications ended the long-​term hospitalization required for TB patients, but even as they were discharged, they needed to learn new skills to be able to support themselves. Plantation workers stricken with the debilitating disease were not able to return to the strenuous fieldwork.

The sheltered workshop programs allowed the clients to work at their own pace as they recovered their strength while involved in craft work and making souvenirs.

The original Ka Lima O Maui facility was a converted two-​story house on the shoreline at Kahului Harbor. Its first director was Katherine Feddes.

Over time, the agency expanded its services to provide for other disabled individuals in the community in need of work skills, training and support in a «sheltered workshop» environment.