OUR STORY

Jerolyn Johnston and Kailani Meheula, founders of Kupuna Housed lived through a season of homelessness with their children. Having met in a women's shelter, they both discovered a passion to help Hawaii's growing homeless kupuna population. In May of 2020 they launched a roadside educational campaign to build awareness in their hometown of Kaneohe. As their season of homelessness came to an end, both Jerolyn and Kailani began to serve homeless kupuna in the Windward, Oahu area. They launched several "meet and feed" campaigns from October - November 2021. Using their own funds and donations from family and friends, they began feeding, transporting and advocating for homeless kupuna in the area. Since then, kupuna Housed has helped to successfully house 10 Kupuna through partnerships with other organizations. At the same time, Joshua Kaina began reachingout to the homeless population in his area of Kahuku, Hawaii. He helped to successfully transition three kupuna into government funded shelters before comnining efforts with Jerolyn and Kailani. Together, their vision is to eliminate homelessness in Hawaii, starting with Kupuna.