Sharon Black, a former police outreach worker who spent her own time and money to help the homeless in downtown Honolulu, died at Hawaii Hospice in Kailua on Thursday afternoon.
Black, 52, died of lung cancer that had spread to other parts of her body.
Black was an outreach worker for the Honolulu Police Department for more than 20 years. On weekends, she established the Kau Kau Wagon, which fed the homeless in Chinatown, most recently out of Chinatown Gateway Park.
In an interview with the Star-Advertiser last week, Black said the Kau Kau Wagon began in the 1980s, even before she began working for the police department, when she borrowed her children’s red wagon to help distribute sandwiches and juice to the needy at Aala Park.
"This was my childhood dream, and I needed it to happen," Black said. "I believed that if I could help one person, it would make a difference for several. You help one, and then another, and then another. It just grew bigger and bigger."
Today, the program is still funded completely by donations and a core crew of about eight or nine people. It feeds upward of 300 people every Saturday, and as many as 800 each Thanksgiving.
Black is survived by, among others, son Chez, daughter Nikki and former husband Mike Black. All three flew in to be with her in her final days.
Relatives were at her bedside and friends were nearby as well when she died, said Susan Siu, a family friend.
Also at her bedside were her three Great Danes, Mokka, Polo and Rambo.
Black’s dying wish was fulfilled this week when a new home was found for the dogs on a ranch in Waimea on Hawaii island.
"It was what she always dreamed of, having the dogs living on a big property so she could have more rescue Danes," Siu said.
In recent years, Black took the dogs not just to bring cheer to the homeless at Chinatown Gateway Park, but also to the sick and elderly in hospitals and care homes across Oahu.
"Sharon spent most of her life trying to make a better place for those who couldn’t do so by themselves," Siu said. "She focused on doing what most of us would view as a physical manifestation of love by her sharing of food and sharing the companionship of her beloved dogs. This served to nourish both bodies and souls of the many lives she touched. She did this with a full heart and unconditionally."
