HALEA is a 501(c)(4) employee organization dedicated to the staff at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
HALEA is a 501(c)(4) non-profit employee organization formed for the welfare and morale of PIFSC employees. HALEA became official in 2018 but has been around as an unofficial employees support group since the early days (~1950's) of Dole Street next to University of Hawaii at Manoa where we used to be known as the Pacific Oceanic Fisher
HALEA is a 501(c)(4) non-profit employee organization formed for the welfare and morale of PIFSC employees. HALEA became official in 2018 but has been around as an unofficial employees support group since the early days (~1950's) of Dole Street next to University of Hawaii at Manoa where we used to be known as the Pacific Oceanic Fisheries Investigation, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Department of the Interior, in the pre-NOAA days, or Honolulu Laboratory of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center based out of La Jolla, California, more recently in the years just prior to moving to Ford Island.
We are presently the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center or PIFSC for short, now located at the Inouye Regional Center (IRC) on Ford Island in Honolulu, Hawaii. The acronym HALEA actually comes from the words "Honolulu Area Laboratory Employees Association" and while we have considered changing our name to suit the times, in the end we opted to keep the name HALEA as a sign of respect to our deep roots.
HALEA focuses on incorporating the aloha spirit into the PIFSC workplace. By doing this, our fellow employees become a part of the PIFSC ohana or family community with a sense of togetherness, respect, and trust. Our goal is to maintain and improve employee morale through workplace niceties like coffee, tea, snacks, and occasional social events. It is hoped that these small contributions by HALEA can eventually add up to make a significant difference in quality of work life at PIFSC.
Our dedicated team of HALEA Officers and Committee Members are committed to helping others at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center workplace.
HALEA Officers:
HALEA Committees:
Our dedicated team of HALEA Officers and Committee Members are committed to helping others at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center workplace.
HALEA Officers:
HALEA Committees:
See other website sections below for more detail on the functions of the various HALEA Committees.
Interested in being part of the HALEA Team in some capacity? We enthusiastically welcome the support. Reach us by email at pifschalea@gmail.com or just talk to one of our HALEA Officers or Committee Members.
HALEA is a proud and enthusiastic partner with:
HALEA is a proud and enthusiastic partner with:
The HALEA Aloha Committee takes the lead and/or assists PIFSC Divisions/Programs with departing employee coffee hours and other events.
As part of this service, HALEA is pleased to be moving away from single-use cups for our coffee and tea service. To this end, in early 2019 HALEA invested in 15 reusable mugs and a small storage rack to
The HALEA Aloha Committee takes the lead and/or assists PIFSC Divisions/Programs with departing employee coffee hours and other events.
As part of this service, HALEA is pleased to be moving away from single-use cups for our coffee and tea service. To this end, in early 2019 HALEA invested in 15 reusable mugs and a small storage rack to eliminate the need for paper, foam, or plastic throwaway cups at HALEA gatherings and at IRC Seminars. Ideally you bring your own mugs to such events, but if not feel free to use one of our HALEA mugs. When done, please return it to the cart. And of course if you wish to purchase your very own HALEA mug they can be found in our online store at http://halea.storenvy.com or just ask us, we might have an extra one on-hand at IRC to sell you. If this experiment works, HALEA will be happy to lend our stash of 15 mugs and mug rack to your IRC work events where coffee/tea is involved.
HALEA is also pleased to announce that starting in 2020 we are transitioning from plastic k-cup coffee pods to 100% biodegradable, compostable k-cup coffee pods for the IRC pantry Keurig coffee makers. This will be friendlier to the landfills and incineration process, and help reduce the demand for plastic.
This Committee is always on the lookout for volunteer helpers to assist in alerting us to employee events and helping make coffee, hot water for tea, popcorn, etc., so please contact us if you want to pitch in to this noble effort.
The HALEA Pantry Committee takes the lead on provisioning of coffee, tea, and snacks in the IRC B176 2nd floor pantry cupboard and refrigerator. HALEA supplies Keurig k-cup coffee makers and a hot-water pot in addition to a wide assortment of coffee pods (including decaf and hot chocolate, and transitioning to plastic-free see text to lef
The HALEA Pantry Committee takes the lead on provisioning of coffee, tea, and snacks in the IRC B176 2nd floor pantry cupboard and refrigerator. HALEA supplies Keurig k-cup coffee makers and a hot-water pot in addition to a wide assortment of coffee pods (including decaf and hot chocolate, and transitioning to plastic-free see text to left), as well as a variety of teas.
Our snacks inventory and pricing varies somewhat with what is available in local stores and what employees request but we try to be as consistent as possible. Our latest offerings were Indian Madras lentils, several types of brown rice, and string cheese & Babybel cheese located in the small fridge under our snacks cupboard. We were also selling some seaweed nori packets remaining from our poke bowl event in November.
As we return to IRC, HALEA is seeking feedback on what to offer in the pantry, please participate here: https://forms.gle/zxuwxdgrScAnxu5p6
This Committee is always on the lookout for volunteer helpers to assist in shopping with a good eye for sales and bargains, so please contact us if you want to pitch in to this noble effort.
The HALEA Recycling Committee takes the lead on recycling certain items in the IRC building. Presently HALEA recycles HI5 aluminum cans, plastic & glass bottles. There are recycling bins located in the pantries of IRC, please deposit your items there and feel free to bring from home as well.
For IRC recycling please just put those listed H
The HALEA Recycling Committee takes the lead on recycling certain items in the IRC building. Presently HALEA recycles HI5 aluminum cans, plastic & glass bottles. There are recycling bins located in the pantries of IRC, please deposit your items there and feel free to bring from home as well.
For IRC recycling please just put those listed HI5 items into the recycling bins. Please, no random pieces of metal or glass, no random plastic containers, no soup cans, etc. And if you could empty your HI5 items and remove caps on plastic & glass bottles that would save us a lot of work.
This Committee is always on the lookout for volunteer helpers to assist in sorting and hauling the items to the nearby Halawa recycling facility, so please contact us if you want to pitch in to this noble effort. HALEA thanks the IRC facility management team and janitorial staff for making this possible and facilitating the process.
Monthly lunches were started from an idea of the PIFSC Employee Council as a way of feeding employees after the 2019 post-furlough shutdown of the IRC cafeteria. HALEA enthusiastically supports the monthly lunches and plays a large part in mobilizing these events. In 2019 we have accomplished 2 pizza lunches (August, September), a build-y
Monthly lunches were started from an idea of the PIFSC Employee Council as a way of feeding employees after the 2019 post-furlough shutdown of the IRC cafeteria. HALEA enthusiastically supports the monthly lunches and plays a large part in mobilizing these events. In 2019 we have accomplished 2 pizza lunches (August, September), a build-your-own-sandwich lunch (October), and in November we pulled off the ultimate build-your-own-poke-bowl lunch paired with an afternoon IRC Seminar on poke and seafood safety by Dr. John Kaneko of the Hawaii Seafood Council. In 2020 we had a chili contest & lunch, and are planning a build-your-own taco/burrito event jointly with PIRO. All events were a resounding success, particularly the November and January events.
We look forward to continuing these monthly events into 2020 and beyond, regardless of the cafeteria and food truck status, since these events are much appreciated by staff.
The HALEA Lunch Committe is a new committee and is looking for a whole new team, so please contact us if you want to pitch in to this noble effort!
The annual HALEA Summer Picnic is usually held at Waimanalo Bay State Recreation Area, also known locally as "Sherwoods" in the August/September time frame. This is a BBQ and potluck lunch event that has fun activities like water balloon toss and tug-of-war.
The annual HALEA Holiday Luncheon is usually held at Rainbow Pavilion at nearby Rainbow Bay Marina in December just prior to the Christmas & New Years holiday season. This is a BBQ and potluck lunch event that has fun activities like games, raffle, band, and sing-along.
The HALEA Store is an online store selling a variety of clothing items, hats, mugs, bags, etc. with our HALEA artwork prominently displayed. Customers can place orders at any time for any quantity large or small at the HALEA Store. Storenvy is our chosen E-Commerce platform that works well with Printful & Print Aura who print and ship our
The HALEA Store is an online store selling a variety of clothing items, hats, mugs, bags, etc. with our HALEA artwork prominently displayed. Customers can place orders at any time for any quantity large or small at the HALEA Store. Storenvy is our chosen E-Commerce platform that works well with Printful & Print Aura who print and ship our custom HALEA artwork merchandise. The HALEA Store is located at http://halea.storenvy.com and is open year-round 24/7.
One of our more exciting items are custom-color rash guards. If you have a favorite color, just let us know what the RGB code is for that color, and we can make a rash guard that color available in the store, no minimum purchase required. And we have demos of most items available in IRC for viewing and handling to get an idea of sizing and fabric options so please reach out to us if you have questions.
Note that we do keep a few popular items in-stock at IRC for quick sale, so contact us at pifschalea@gmail.com if you have an immediate need to see if we have it in-stock.
HALEA accepts payments via Venmo (@HALEA-PIFSC) and PayPal (pifschalea@gmail.com). For simplicity our HALEA Venmo QR code is located above. For the uninitiated, a QR code such as the above allows you to quickly inform the Venmo app on your device to prepare to send us a payment. The Venmo app will have an option to read a QR code, or if y
HALEA accepts payments via Venmo (@HALEA-PIFSC) and PayPal (pifschalea@gmail.com). For simplicity our HALEA Venmo QR code is located above. For the uninitiated, a QR code such as the above allows you to quickly inform the Venmo app on your device to prepare to send us a payment. The Venmo app will have an option to read a QR code, or if you just use the camera mode of your device it should get to that location automatically.
If you do choose to use PayPal please be sure to use the "friends and family" setting so that we get your full amount, HALEA does consider you all to be friends and family.
And of course donations are always welcome and put to good use.