Call it a penchant, a predilection, a predisposition. Whatever it is, Sasha Dimond has always gravitated toward identifying complex problems and solving them.
"Growing up, I always liked mysteries," she says. "I was really interested in solving things."
Thus, the little girl who loved young-adult mystery novels and TV crime dramas eventually grew up to earn a degree in criminal justice with an emphasis on forensic psychology.
However, it was a more roundabout set of circumstances that found Dimond taking on her most formidable conundrum — how to end childhood hunger — and divining a way to contribute to a solution.
Dating back to her days at Saint Francis School, Dimond has enjoyed exercising her problem-solving abilities through event planning and coordination. She helped to organize fundraising activities for the March of Dimes and other organizations.
In college she oversaw events for the school’s Hawaii club, organized volunteers as a youth outreach intern with the Hawaii Meth Project and coordinated youth sporting events as a community services assistant for the city of Bellevue, Wash.
Those experiences, as well as a stint caring for seniors at Catholic Community Services in Seattle, enabled Dimond to return home last year to assume her current position as activity director for The Plaza of Mililani, an assisted-living facility.
With encouragement from mentor Colby Takeda, a Plaza administrator, Dimond applied for and was awarded a Sodexo Foundation Youth Grant through Youth Service America.
Leveraging every cent of the $400 award, Dimond designed and built a self-sufficient aquaponic farming system at the Plaza.
Constructed out of a trash bin, water pump, black cinder and PVC piping, the system produces a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs, all watered and fertilized by an integrated tank containing live tilapia and goldfish.
"We have cooking demonstrations on the lanai (where the system is located), and the residents love watching us using green onions or chili peppers that we pick right there," Dimond says.
More important, the project allows Dimond to contribute to the fight against childhood hunger. Just last week the Plaza donated its first harvest of lettuce, watercress, green onions, Thai basil and kale to the Hawaii Foodbank.
The project has special resonance for Dimond, whose mother, Anna, a gifted gardener, died three years ago.
"She had a green thumb," Dimond says. "That’s what she was known for, so when I work on the garden, I think of her. I hope she would be proud that we’re working to fight hunger and to help the people of Hawaii."
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
