Page 8 - Hawaii Island MIdWeek - Nov 17, 2021

8 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK NOVEMBER 17, 2021
Hardworking Gangloff Ready For Holiday Spectacle
FROM PAGE 7
parenting responsibilities fell to his mother, Judy, and step- father Paul Moniz.
Waipahu, so he cooked up the idea of going door to door and asking residents if they would give him a penny for each bag of trash he hauled away. Many tenants gladly took him up on his offer rath- er than drag their refuse down the stairs.
take the carts beyond securi- ty, I would be right there to take the carts away for them,” he explains. “Four or five bucks later, I now had enough money to go to Fun Factory!”
says the projects cost him about $100,000 out of his own pocket, but the money and time spent were well worth it because he not only believes “in doing what’s right,” but he also receives “immense joy in helping others.”
there for me along the way; there were plenty of people who made a huge difference and did help me, so I’m not grumbling about my child- hood,” he adds.
dollars to buy a home. Know- ing that the show would be in jeopardy if he wasn’t able to purchase a key item, Gangl- off decided to ask his wife the unthinkable.
The family was financially strapped and survived most- ly on government-assistance programs and whatever mon- ey Moniz would bring in from working multiple jobs.
But while Gangloff was busy learning how to earn cash, he was also being ex- posed to the cruel realities of living in some of the roughest neighborhoods on O‘ahu.
“In fact, I would not change one iota of it.”
“I said, ‘Eh, hon, I was wondering if I could buy some things for the show with our savings? We’ll get our money back — I’ m sure we will,’ ” remembers Gangloff. “And without hesitation, she said, ‘Yeah, hon. Go ahead. Let’s do it’ — and we literal- ly stopped looking at homes right after that.”
Despite his poverty-strick- en circumstances, Gangloff learned the value of hard work early on, and credits the example set by his stepfather.
With a few coins in his pocket, Gangloff would then wait for the manapua wagon to roll by.
“People might ask why I do so much when I was treat- ed that way. The fact of the matter is I see myself stand- ing up for the underdog, for the person who cannot defend himself,” Gangloff explains. “WhenIdowhatIdo,Ibe- lieve I’m just doing what I re- ally felt other people should have done to me. I’ m being the opposite person of how I was treated.
angloff may have inherited his work ethic from his step-
“He worked his ass off to support us. I mean he had four jobs and would get there on a moped — it was ridic- ulous,” recalls Gangloff, the youngest boy in a family of three half-brothers and one half-sister.
“I could get two bubble gums for 1 cent. And if I had 5 cents, I could get one soda, or I could buy two (Charms) Blow Pops,” he says, chuck- ling at the memory.
As he recalls, “I was bul- lied constantly because of my white-color skin. When I was a freshman at Farrington, I would be playing basketball and somebody would do a layup and I would say, ‘Nice shot.’ And the guy would come over and punch me in the face.”
In recalling the weeks leading up to the 2020 light show, he remembers lying in bed with her one morning and wondering if she would be willing to make a sizeable sacrifice. At the time, the cou- ple had saved a half-million
So what exactly did he buy with the money he and his wife had saved for a home?
“But he’s the reason I work my ass off because he’s the one I watched all my life.”
Soon, he set his sights on bigger money-making ven- tures. By hanging out at Ho- nolulu International Airport in the ’ 80s, for example, he found he could make 25 cents for each passenger baggage cart he returned.
Despite his share of pain- ful and unjust experiences, Gangloff refused to let them poison his view of humani- ty. A graduate of Farrington High School, he returned to his alma mater in recent years after he was asked to renovate a pair of its classrooms. He
“I spent it on Christmas lights,” he confesses.
Gangloff was about 7 when he decided to start earning some money. At the time, the family was living in a low-in- come apartment complex in
“I would follow the pas- sengers after they checked in, and because they couldn’t
Your child’s life is precious.
Don’t wait.
Vaccinate.
“But make no mistake of it, there were people that were
Of course Gangloff did. It’s just how he’s wired.
G
father, but he got his heart from his mom. In recent years, that heart has been further softened and shaped by his wife, Joy.
Hoku and Emma, COVID-19 survivors
The Nakaoka ‘ohana — mom Darcie and sons Ryce and Ayce — enjoy their ride through one of the show’s lighted tunnels. PHOTO COURTESY ARYN NAKAOKA
The FDA has authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 and above.
HawaiiCOVID19.com/Vaccine