Memoir of a War on Poverty in Paradise

George Yokoyama was 28 years old and living at a U.S. military camp in Japan when he met an elderly Japanese man he knew only as "Sensei" (Teacher). Sensei told George he'd once met the Hawaiian King Kalakaua and become great friends with the king's young relative. He urged George to be kind, helpful and respectful to native Hawaiians upon returning to Hawai‘i. He made a profound impression upon George, who took Sensei's words to heart and spent the rest of his life doing just that. Back in Hawai‘i, George took a job with a non-profit, community action agency that had the mission to prevent, alleviate and eliminate conditions of poverty. It became his passion--figuring out how to obtain money for programs that assisted Hawaiians and other local groups to improve their education, employment, and families’ future. George rallied grassroots groups in overwhelming numbers and used politics as a means to an end. He had a compulsive preoccupation with helping disadvanged people and he helped change generations of families' lives.