For Waianae paddling coach, cooking is a labor of love

She put out the product without any advertising, fanfare or glory.

It started at 1 o’clock on a Friday morning, the enormous pot, big as a double tire on a rig.

“That’s one of our smaller pots,” said the lady in a red T-shirt and navy blue Waianae paddling hat.

Delveen Angeles-Eli’s work ethic is no surprise to the student-athletes at Waianae High School. The head paddling coach doesn’t just steer her paddlers toward success. She helps them understand that they need each other and they need the support of the community. Friday’s fundraiser at the concession stand during Waianae’s football playoff game against Aiea was a once-a-year opportunity to raise money. And hope.

“We’ve got to keep fundraising. We’re going to Maui this year,” she said of the state paddling championships.

The chicken, 30 to 40 pounds of it, had already thawed out. The ingredients for success, never to be uttered, no matter how much a persistent customer asked. “I cannot say. Sorry,” said Angeles-Eli.

“She makes bentos, too,” junior paddler Abcde Sator said. “Her mom made a peach cake for us. That was really good.”

Her ahi poke bowls and shoyu chicken plates sold out by halftime. Mission accomplished.

“Sometimes, we buy the food through donations for the kids, or sometimes it comes out of pocket,” Angeles-Eli said. “We do it because we love our kids.”