A few months ago, we hosted a Vegas Night fundraiser to raise money for the local Ka’u Hospital. We organized a system where guests could donate cash for chips in order to play black jack, roulette, and craps. All donations went to the hospital and by the end of the evening, they made a generous donation of a $1000 to the hospital. In doing so, they in turn, learned how to to play the games, as many of them were typically slot machine and one-armed bandit casino game players. They were able to use the chips they won to bid on door prizes that were donated that included gift certificates to restaurants, coffee, lodging at the inn, honey, etc.
We make the effort to support our community however we can. We buy our local produce from our farmer’s market, we serve 100% Ka’u coffee from our coffee farmers, we get honey from our neighborhood bee apiarist, and mango in season from South Kona. We send our guests to the areas restaurants, we ask our guests to hike in to areas to minimize erosion, and we make contributions to support events and organizations in our area.
Mapulehu mangos from Na'alehu
What entails is a network of support that builds on relationships. If you have oranges this week, “great!, let’s have some of them; and if it’s red potatoes next week, terrific!, how about saving me some for then.
Back to the fish.
A couple months later, one of the gentlemen who helped support the Vegas Night at the inn wants to borrow the felt cloths, playing cards, roulette, and the 5-deck shoe, He and a few friends and family want to duplicate what we did just for fun. They are regular visitors to Las Vegas and this will be a play for chips only affair.
Their weekend is a lot of fun – as expected, and after a few days he calls to say he’d like to return the items he borrowed.
Upon leaving he says, “Would you like some menpachi?” For those who may not know, menpachi is a Japanese name for what is referred to as a soldierfish or a squirrel fish. The Hawaiian name is ‘U’u and it is usually caught at night. They are not a very big fish but they are very delicious. 
One is expected to use your hands to eat this fish, as it can be bony, yet very tasty.
So this is how being a part of the community brought us some very ‘ono fish. We may have had to brush up on our fish cleaning skills to cook these, but playing black jack or shooting craps will continue to remind me of fish for quite some time. And there you have it, that is how giving to your community can bring unexpected returns like fish.