Celebrating Joe Thompson’s More Than 30 Years of Service

Wallace “Joe” Thompson started as a Community Health Outreach Worker for The CHOW Project in 1990 and retired from H3RC in June. As H3RC’s longest-tenured employee and the first employee to retire from the organization, Joe was originally one of three part-time outreach workers serving Maui County. By the mid-1990s, he was the only full-time worker on the island. Providing Maui residents with access to sterile syringes and other injection equipment to prevent HIV and hepatitis, Joe became well known throughout the island for being big-hearted, kind, and willing to do anything for his participants.

Joe has been in recovery for decades and loved working with people who use drugs because he knew that with education, access to sterile equipment, and a little bit of love, he could save lives. When asked what kept him going, he replied, “It was good to lay my head down at night and wake up in the morning knowing I did good and that I helped people.” Joe did more than help people. For many, he was the only person who did not judge them. He provided a compassionate ear and remembered names and important details. He truly witnessed people, walked alongside them, and had a positive impact on everyone he met along the way.

Joe, along with his colleagues Sheila on Kauaʻi and David on Hawaiʻi Island, were the only H3RC staff members on their respective islands, and the Neighbor Island team became very close. Even in Joe’s retirement, they continue to connect and support one another. Harm reduction is already very difficult work, especially when you are literally the only person on the island offering overdose prevention, access to sterile tools, and support for people who are often ignored, discriminated against, and targeted.

Joe loved sharing stories about his work with others on Maui, and many of his friends and family agree that this was his life’s work. His daughter Nicole was 11 years old when he first started and remembers how happy her father was when he got the position, and forever after. Nicole and other members of Joe’s family joined H3RC and Maui AIDS Foundation staff to celebrate Joe and his life-saving work at his retirement event on July 22.

Thank you, Joe, for all the lives you have touched and for making the world a better place.