<body><div>Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=41e7ur_0v4W1C3x00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=41e7ur_0v4W1C3x00" width="1200" height="800" ><figcaption>Mama Dee, who spent over three decades bridging East Palo Alto communities, died on Aug. 10 at Stanford Hospital, according to her family.&nbsp; Courtesy of Anamatangi Polynesian Voices.</figcaption></figure>Appollonia Grey Uhilamoelangi, better known as Mama Dee to her East Palo Alto community, lived to help those in need, especially children, said her oldest son Mike Uhila. From founding dance groups, reading and literacy programs and nonprofit Anamatangi Polynesian Voices to advocate for Pacific Islanders, community action came naturally to her throughout her life. Uhilamoelangi, who spent over three decades bridging East Palo Alto communities, died on Aug. 10 at Stanford Hospital, according to her family. She is survived by her three grandchildren, four children Mike, Shanna, Center and Leiataualesa and her husband, Senita Uhilamoelangi, also known as Papa Senita. Uhilamoelangi was a “founding mother,” or “main artery,” in the city, who worked to promote youth success and maintain the Pacific Islander community while connecting with other cultures, said East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio Lopez.“She was like Jupiter, everyone revolved around her,” Lopez said. She moved to East Palo Alto with her family in the early 1980s, seeking out a community with more people of color. Uhilamoelangi began working for the city’s recreation department in 1984, the year after East Palo Alto became an incorporated city, and eventually was hired to work at the Youth Development Center, providing outreach to Pacific Islander youth and parents, Uhila said. Although she was new, she quickly took to the city and built up a Rolodex of community contacts, he said. When the program ran out of funding in the early ’90s, Uhilamoelangi and three other women created an after-school reading and tutoring program, which grew and split up into three groups for Redwood City, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto students. Uhilamoelangi ran the East Palo Alto branch, recruiting teachers from Menlo-Atherton High School and Stanford University to help raise low literacy scores throughout the district. In 1992, the city was branded the “murder capital of the world,” Uhila said, when crime and drug use rates spiked, and getting home safe was a priority over focusing on school. “The reality of the time was either survive or die,” he said, and it felt like saving all the kids was impossible.But that didn’t stop his mom, Uhila said. She was maternal, using her sensitivity and care with the youth, who endearingly gave her the name Mama Dee, Uhila said. She could always be seen giving people hugs, even in East Palo Alto, where hugging wasn’t typically the “protocol.” One of Lopez’s first memories of Uhilamoelangi was watching her tell a story in an East Palo Alto documentary.“She was washing dishes in the ’90s and sees these four young men selling drugs on her corner,” he said. “And normally you would think most people would avoid that, but she confronted them.”When she asked them why they were selling drugs, Lopez said, they told her they wanted to go back to school, but didn’t know how. “She always wanted a better and second chance for youth,” he said. “She was a connector, always willing to bridge different racial and ethnic communities.” In the mid-’90s, Uhilamoelangi started a dance program so local youth could learn about Polynesian culture. The tutoring group incorporated it and was eventually named Pacific Islander Outreach – which was open to everyone in the community. “The same kids that are coming to tutoring all of a sudden get swept into dancing, swept into the culture,” Uhila said. Uhilamoelangi, who grew up dancing in Samoa, can be seen leading a welcoming ceremony in East Palo Alto documentary, “Dreams of a City,” when the group hosts the Princess of Tonga in 1994.Uhilamoelangi and her husband went on to participate in a Stanford Health Care conference, encouraging Pacific Islanders to improve their health and living habits. The King of Tonga attended the conference, and named their outreach group “Anamatangi.”She and her husband founded Anamatangi Polynesian Voices in 1997 to promote community togetherness, public health and provide Pacific Islanders a community hub to celebrate their culture. In 1998, she was also active in Palo Alto’s First Presbyterian Church, where she offered to host a sort of mission trip for the Palo Alto youth. The participating kids slept at Uhilamoelangi’s Tongan church in East Palo Alto for several nights, meeting local figures and touring the community in a transformative experience, said Leif Erickson, former executive director of Youth Community Services who worked with her at the church. “She still had a spirit of joy and optimism and a belief that reaching out and sharing stories would lead to good things,” Erickson said. She bridged the Palo Alto and East Palo Alto communities, and helped people see humanity in others, he said. Uhilamoelangi’s activism even reached local and global figures like former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, Uhila said. “I remember when I was a kid, we got on a bus and I thought we were going to Marine World,” he said, laughing. “We wound up going to the Capitol to see the governor.” But she was the same person whether she was in the White House or relaxing at home, Uhila said: She was proud of who she was. Anamatangi Polynesian Voices became an official nonprofit in 2021, when Pacific Islanders struggled to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Uhilamoelangi used her community influence to encourage locals to get the vaccine and pick up other safety procedures. While she began phasing out of community work due to health concerns, Uhilamoelangi continued to help others, even globally. In 2022, she gathered donations to send to Tonga after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted, causing extensive damage in the area. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2kgP1r_0v4W1C3x00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2kgP1r_0v4W1C3x00" width="772" height="1000" ><figcaption>Mama Dee’s celebration of life services will from Aug. 20 to Aug. 23. Courtesy of Mike Uhila</figcaption></figure>She wasn’t “tech-savvy” and didn’t go to school to learn about community work, Uhila said, but she could gather 300 people for a meeting all through community outreach. “She’s a big-hearted person,” he said. “She just wanted to stretch that love out, which reached all of San Mateo County.” Uhilamoelangi’s services will extend throughout the week, beginning on Tuesday with a community prayer service from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 2012 Pulgas Ave. in East Palo Alto. Her family asks that the community donate to Anamatangi Polynesian Voices or her Gofundme to help continue her lifelong work. </div></body>

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East Palo Alto ‘founding mother’ left a legacy of community togetherness

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Appollonia Grey Uhilamoelangi, better known as Mama Dee to her East Palo Alto community, lived to help those in need, especially children, said her oldest son Mike Uhila. From founding dance groups, reading and literacy programs and nonprofit Anamatangi Polynesian Voices to advocate for...

East Palo Alto ‘founding mother’ left a legacy of community togetherness

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