The Man Who Gives Things Another Life

By Doris Morisaki & Sharonne Samiere

Doctor. Musician. Ballroom dancer. Jewelry maker. Balloon artist. And among all those talents, there’s one we especially appreciate around Still & Moving Center: handyman extraordinaire.

Long before Mark became the person we call upon when something around the Center needs fixing, he was the kind of kid who loved taking his toys apart just to see what was inside.

He didn’t always succeed at putting them back together, but that never stopped him. He wanted to understand how all the little pieces worked.

Today, Mark leaves little traces of his handiwork all around Still & Moving Center, and he generously gives much of his time and talent as a volunteer.

When the woven stool that our Kumu Mālia uses in class started falling apart, Mark didn’t throw it away and replace it. That’s not his way. He took it home, pulled it completely apart, repaired each piece, refinished and re-varnished the wood, and brought the stool back to life.

The hand sanitizer we needed by our front door? Mark built the stand for it.

The beautiful little wooden box behind our front desk that says “Welcome” and hides what used to be a mess of cables? Mark built that too.

And when the toilet in our second bathroom broke, we didn’t have to call a plumber. Mark and Dustin figured out what needed to be done and installed the new toilet.

Light bulbs, doors, the fish tank, furniture, cables, plumbing… when something around the Center needs fixing, adjusting, rebuilding, repurposing, or a little creative problem-solving, Mark finds a way.

He even built a rain stick from scratch to play for our sound baths and yoga classes. And guess what he put inside to create that beautiful sound? Popcorn kernels! Mark doesn’t just know how to fix things, he gets creative with whatever he has around him and builds brand new things!

Every year, he brings his ingenuity to our Diwali celebration. Mark serves as one of the masterminds behind the scenes, creating props, designing sound effects, and figuring out how to turn our ideas into reality. Many of the details that help transform the Center into a magical setting for Diwali start with Mark asking, “How can we make this work?”

And here’s the interesting part: no one formally taught him most of these skills.

Mark didn’t grow up with a handyman father teaching him how to fix things. Instead, he learned out of necessity. When something broke, he simply set his mind to figuring it out. I sometimes joke that Mark must have been born in Cuba, where jerry-rigging broken things is just a way of life.

Over the years, Mark has rescued countless things from being thrown away. He repairs them, transforms them, gives them a new purpose, and, in the process, makes our Center a little more beautiful, functional, and cared for. 

And he gives it all as a labor of love. It’s people like Mark who give our founder Renée Tillotson the confidence to transform Still & Moving into a nonprofit Community Center for all of us to keep and build into the future.

Last year, during our May Day celebration, Kumu Mālia gave Mark his Hawaiian name: Kahiau. 

Kahiau. One who gives without expecting anything in return.

It’s hard to imagine a name that could fit Mark better.