First Circuit (O‘ahu) Specialty Court participants and staff held a community service event at the He‘eia Fishpond in Kāneʻohe. Team members helped preserve the site by moving and stacking rocks and coral, and doing additional maintenance in the area.

The He‘eia Fishpond located in Heʻeia, is a kuapā-style fishpond enclosing 88 acres of water. The kuapā (wall) was built by residents of the area 600 to 800 years ago on Malaukaʻa, a fringing reef that extends away from the shoreline, completely encircling the fishpond. The kuapā is possibly the longest in the Hawaiian Islands, measuring an estimated 1.3 miles (7,000 feet).

The Dec. 12 event was designed to help Drug Court and Veteran’s Treatment Court participants build relationships with each other, find a sense of purpose, and to give back to their community. Such therapeutic engagements are recommended by All Rise, formerly known as the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI), and practiced by many specialty courts around the nation. This was the first community service project for the First Circuit Specialty Courts in more than 20 years.