Recent grants to Hawaii Nonprofits

> Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation has donated $3.5 million for Hawaii's first American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific said the gift is the largest donation it has ever received. In return, the lodge – a free "home away from home" for patients who must travel from home for cancer treatments – will be named the American Cancer Society's Clarence T.C. Ching Hope Lodge. The 19-room facility at 251 Vineyard St. will provide an estimated 460 cancer patients and their caregivers up to 6,935 nights of free housing annually, reducing the financial and emotional burden of cancer and allowing patients to focus on recovery. The lodge includes private rooms and baths and a community kitchen, laundry facility and living area. The American Cancer Society has launched a $15.5 million capital campaign to build the lodge, one of 31 lthe society operates nationwide. Construction is planned to start by early 2014.

> Hawaii People's Fund has awarded more than $45,000 since July of this year. Grants are made possible through individual donations, donor advised funds and partial matches from Hawaii Community Foundation. Recent grantees include: Friends of Lanai to support the voices of those who seek an alternative to an industrial wind plant and who support sustainable energy for Hawaii; God’s Country Waimanalo to help fix a damaged roof; Hawaii Community Stewardship Network for advocacy training and a mini conference for community malama ‘aina groups; Hawaii Friends of Justice and Civic Education for the Hawaii Women’s Prison Family Law Clinic to help provide legal services and create a consumer friendly Family Law Manual for women who are incarcerated; Mauna Kea Anaina Hou to support outreach efforts and conservation education on the summit of Mauna Kea; and Mohala Farms, to bring health awareness to Hawaiian families and support place-based practices by combining organic farming practices and the Hawaiian cultural tradition of ‘oli or chanting.

> Hawaii-Western Management Group, one of the state's largest insurance management services companies and administrator for HMAA, donated $24,028 to the Hawaii Foodbank, a contribution that will ultimately provide more than 60,000 meals for needy people in Hawaii. Hawaii-Western employees contributed $9,514 to the food bank. The company matched that amount and added $5,000, for a total of $24,028.

> CHEST Foundation has given $10,000 to Sacred Hearts Academy for health education programs. The Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American College of Chest Physicians, a 17,500-member medical society which held a convention in Honolulu in late October. Volunteers from the college and its Ambassadors Group gave a seminar on lung health Oct. 24 to Sacred Hearts fifth- and sixth-graders. Students learned from visual displays of healthy and diseased lungs.

> Ho‘olako na Kiwila Hawaii, a leadership program for Hawaiian civic clubs, has received a $400,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The grant is to help the 59 Hawaiian civic clubs to become self-sustaining in their communities through a combination of mini-grants to individual clubs to teach them how to apply for and manage grants, and to provide training in the areas of marketing, strategic planning and fundraising. Hawaiian civic clubs, established in 1918 by Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, are dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of Hawaiian culture and engaging Native Hawaiians in the civic process.

> Office of Hawaiian Affairs has awarded $1.8 million in grants to five programs: I Ola Lahui, $500,000; the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, $500,000; the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, $500,000; Kauai Community College, $179,700; and Native Hawaiian Student Services, $180,000.

> Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations has been awarded four grants, totaling $135,000: Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation granted HANO $50,000 for improvement of government contracting relationships with nonprofits; the Keith and Judy Swayne Family Foundation awarded $10,000 for community building around HANO's advocacy efforts; Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation awarded $25,000 for capacity building and advocacy work; and Harold K.L. Castle Foundation granted $50,000, conditional on HANO’s raising matching gifts. 

> Hawaii Medical Service Association Foundation has awarded $102,000 in grants to community organizations. The recipients are: Aloha Harvest, which received $40,000 to help purchase two new refrigerated trucks that will be used to transport donor food to agencies that feed the hungry and homeless; After-School All-Stars Hawaii, $25,000 to support the Sports as a Hook program, which will be implemented in six public middle schools to promote healthy lifestyles, physical activity and proper nutrition; Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, $15,000 for the First Connections, Trish Green Back to School and Welcome Back to School programs. All three are part of a patient education program that provides support to children recently diagnosed with cancer; Maryknoll School, $5,000 for the Bicycle Helmet Safety Class project, an instructional course for children in elementary school that encourages children to use helmets while riding bicycles, scooters and skateboards; Mothers Against Drunk Driving, $5,000 for Power of Parents: It's Your Influence program, which reaches out to families and children through a series of workshops; Papa Ola Lokahi, $5,000 for the 2011 Lapakahi Gathering in North Kohala, an annual event that focuses on the perpetuation of the Native Hawaiian healing practice of laau lapaau; Frank De Lima's Student Enrichment Program, $5,000; and Hawaii State Center for Nursing, $2,000.

> Harold K.L. Castle Foundation has awarded $200,000 to the University of Hawaii-Maui College's Institute of Hawaiian Music. The funds will be used for audio equipment and studio renovation.

> Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health, an affiliate of Sutter Health, has received $10,000 from the Atherton Family Foundation and $1,000 from Island Insurance Foundation in support of the renovation and improvement of its Lehua Adult Unit. These local fundraising commitments will also help leverage a Matching Grant from Sutter Health. If Kahi Mohala meets its fundraising goal by Dec. 31, it will receive a dollar-for-dollar matching grant of $75,000. A total of $58,000 from foundation, business, individual and family donors has been raised to date.

> Island Insurance Foundation has donated $5,000 to the Nuuanu YMCA to provide financial assistance to lower-income youth who are participating in the Y's summer day camp, middle school after-school program, STRIVE Leadership Youth Program and swimming lessons. The Nuuanu Y is the largest YMCA on Oahu, serving more than 4,800 members.

> University of Phoenix Hawaii has donated $4,500 to Junior Achievement Hawaii for advancement of its educational programs. The grant will support classroom programs for K-12 students. "This year we hope to reach 7,000 Hawaii children, mostly in Title I schools (with large numbers of economically disadvantaged students), and this wonderful donation will help us do that," said Dianne Ward, president of Junior Achievement Hawaii.

> Subaru Hawaii will donate $250 to the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and the animal adoption group SPCA Maui for each new vehicle the dealership sells up to $13,000 through the end of the year. Residents also will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite participating nonprofit organization through Subaru Hawaii's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SubaruHI. At the end of this "Share the Love" campaign on Dec. 31, the organization with the most votes will receive $5,000. Besides the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and SPCA Maui, Hawaii Island Humane Society, SPCA Oahu and Hawaii Literacy are also eligible to receive votes.