It’s time for businesses that utilize Honolua Bay to give back to the resource and help protect it for the future.

Now that the state owns 270 acres around the cherished bay and is committed to protecting it, the Save Honolua Coalition can shift its attention from “saving” the area from unwanted private commercial development to long-term community-based management.

Tamara Paltin, president of the Save Honolua Coalition, detailed the situation in a recent letter: “We are reaching out to your business for help to support port-a-potty and caretaking efforts at Honolua while we work to put together a community-based sustainable management plan that includes input from all stakeholders. Would you be willing to support a month of services by donating to the Save Honolua Coalition? All donations are tax-deductible, and we will work with your company to publicize your stepping up to Malama Honolua during this critical time of change.”

The coalition’s grant funds expire at the end of this month, and state funds to care for or manage the land have not yet materialized.

SHC currently pays $614.58 per 28-day cycle for three port-a-potties that get pumped out three times a week. The nonprofit also pays $1,200 per month to contract an insured caretaker (who has been doing an excellent job, Paltin said).

She explained that the state’s purchase of the land doesn’t conclude the massive community effort to care for Honolua.

“On the contrary, our work to ‘save’ Honolua has just begun,” she wrote.

“Currently, we are in the process of working with the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Aha Moku o Kaanapali and the local community to plan for long-term sustainable, community-based management of this area. We want to be able to address health, educational and general caretaking needs in perpetuity, but right now we need your help.”

Records show that each day, more than 800 people visit Honolua Bay from the land.

Tour boats and other businesses that frequent Honolua should step up and contribute to the coalition’s efforts to protect the bay – one of the best surfing breaks in the world and an amazing ocean playground.

For more information, visit www.givingtrax.com/giving/save-honolua-coalition/239/port-a-potties or contact Paltin at tampaltin@gmail.com.