Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a Japanese real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families.<\/p>\n
Tears spilled down Kahale\u2019s cheeks as she accepted from billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto the key to a white, columned house with a circular driveway, a stone staircase and a deep porcelain bathtub. Her family will live there rent-free, but must pay utility bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m shocked. I\u2019m overwhelmed,\u201d Kahale said. \u201cFrom the little box we had to what we have today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kawamoto, whose own eyes started welling up as Kahale cried, handed over two other homes Thursday to homeless or low-income families.<\/p>\n
Kawamoto, one of Japan\u2019s richest men, said he plans to open eight of his 22 Kahala homes to needy Hawaiian families. They will be able to stay in the homes for up to 10 years, he said. He also gave each family 10 $100 bills to help them move in.<\/p>\n
Kawamoto selected the eight low-income families from 3,000 people who wrote him letters last fall after he announced his plan. He has said he tried to pick working, single mothers.<\/p>\n
Giving away mansions shows more dedication to helping Hawaii\u2019s homeless than just handing out wads of cash, he said. Asked whether he was concerned about losing money on the effort, he laughed and said: \u201cThis is pocket money for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kahale\u2019s new house is worth nearly $5 million, an average price for the mansion-like dwellings on Kahala Avenue. It is one of the more modest homes in the neighborhood, many of which feature ornate iron gates, meandering driveways and sculptured gardens.<\/p>\n
Kahale became homeless two years ago when her landlord raised her rent from $800 to $1,200, putting the apartment beyond reach of her salary as customer service representative for Pacific LightNet, a telecommunications company. She first stayed with relatives, then moved to a shelter in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need to do is appreciate,\u201d Kahale said after getting the keys to her new house. \u201cAs fast as we got it, it could disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyn Worley, 40, who got the key to another Kawamoto house, said she believes her neighbors will grow to love her family.<\/p>\n
The elementary school clerk has been living in a house in Waianae with her five children and brother for the past four years. Their lease ran out – and then Kawamoto\u2019s offer came along.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe prayed so hard and cried so much for God to drop something from the skies, and he did,\u201d Worley said. \u201cAnd he did, he really, really did.\u201d<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Copyright 2007
\nThe Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a Japanese real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families. Tears spilled down Kahale\u2019s cheeks as she accepted from billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto the key to a white, columned house […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[562,376,708,182],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7879"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}