Stefanie Anderson of Waioli Kitchen

In 2019, Stefanie and Ross Anderson were honored to restore Waioli Kitchen & Bake Shop to its original mission of meeting the underserved in our community. The new Waioli provides vocational training for graduates of substance abuse disorder programs and individuals recently released from incarceration.  It works with these women who are looking for a fresh start in life and gives them hope.  It also provides basic life skills and vocational training at the shop and encourage their staff to dream again by using their God given giftings to do good.

L-R: Sen. Carol Fukunaga and Stefanie Ross

One guiding principle they work from is 'It takes a community to heal the community.' In all that they do, serving good healthy food, training people to work, teaching life skills, providing a place to connect in a beautiful Hawaii setting, they exemplify building a community of support.  Each scone, every loaf of bread, and every meal purchased by the larger community is a part of bringing hope to those in their program and transforming lives.

In February, Stefanie shared about the transforming power of hope at the Senate’s ‘Moment of Contemplation’ at Senator Fukunaga’s request.  The words brought a fresh sense of the need for community and faith which gives us hope for the future.

“I stand before you as someone shaped by this community - by its struggles, its resilience, and its deep capacity for hope. I’ve walked alongside people in moments of doubt and in moments when belief was all they had left. And I’ve learned this: hope doesn’t arrive on its own. It is carried. It is practiced. It is passed from one person to another.

The question before us is not whether hope is needed - it is whether we are willing to become its stewards.

What happens when we choose to love in ways that are patient and kind? When we speak life instead of fear, truth instead of accusation. And offer grace where it is least expected?  I’ve seen what grows in that kind of soil - courage awakens, dignity is restored, and people remember who they were created to be.”