Honoring a Legacy of Transforming Lives
Opened in 1922, the Waioli Tea Room was conceived as a vocational training facility for the orphans housed at the Salvation Army Girls Home that was also located on the Manoa Campus.
The Waioli Tea Room served breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea and at its height attracted hundreds of guests every day from around the world.
The young women from the girls home staffed and operated the restaurant. They were provided with the opportunity to learn the skills of cooking, cleaning, food service and hospitality which were considered to provide a valuable head start into the work world and self-reliance after they had aged out of the program.
There are many young women who grew up at the orphanage and found the time at Waioli to have made a significant impact in their lives and helped pave the way for viable employment in the Hawaiian Islands.
The Tea Room operated with this mission until the early 1970’s when the orphanage closed as the state developed the foster care programs that are in place today. For the next 40 years, the building had many operators but never recaptured the sense of purpose that was its foundation for the first 50 years.
Today in Hawaii, the Salvation Army does not serve orphan children, but rather is one of the largest providers of treatment for individuals suffering with substance abuse disorders. Waioli Kitchen & Bake Shop seeks to revitalize this historic treasure and is honored to restore it to its original mission of meeting the needs of the underserved in our community. The new Waioli provides vocational training for graduates of programs for the treatment of substance abuse disorders and for individuals recently released from incarceration.
For more information about the Salvation Army in Hawaii visit: hawaii.salvationarmy.org