Several days ago, I drove a guest from the Midwest from our home in Kaneohe to Ala Moana Center. As we neared the center, he gasped.

The homeless encampment is our constant reminder that in the midst of a newly redeveloped, wealthy neighborhood, there is abject poverty.

Craig Shoji and Danica Fong-Shoji provide basic services to our homeless residents — baths and food (“Kaimuki couple defies city by attending to Kakaako homeless people in public park,” Star-Advertiser, March 29). Several years ago they initiated once-a-month food and laundry services to people in Waimanalo.

It is nonsensical to assume that without bath and food services, these residents would go to the homeless shelters.

To imply that a cure-all exists for homelessness is misleading. The landowners of the Kakaako encampment should take their cue from the Shojis and initiate services. In the meantime, they should welcome the Shojis, not penalize them.

Lois Lee

Kaneohe

Click here to read more Letters to the Editor.