Recent grants to Hawaii nonprofits

> North Hawaii Community Hospital and North Hawaii Hospice have received a gift of $1.5 million from the estate of longtime Big Island volunteer Alcy D. “Shorty” Johnson and his wife, Jacque. Johnson, who died June 12, 2011, at the age of 89, was well known as a volunteer in the Waimea community, the hospital and North Hawaii Hospice. His wife died in 1993. According to Johnson’s will, the Jacqueline and Alcy Johnson Memorial Fund will be set up and administered by the Hawaii Community Foundation and will distribute proceeds from the gift each year with 60 percent going to the hospital and 40 percent going to the North Hawaii Hospice. Johnson began volunteering at North Hawaii Community Hospital a month before its May 1996 opening. “The two trees on either side of our front lobby doors were faithfully watered by Shorty,” Arielle Faith Michael, director of the hospital’s Holistic Care Services and Volunteers, said in a statement. “I like to think that a part of him lives on in those trees. His warm smile and positive personality made him a true ambassador of aloha.” Johnson worked at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard during World War II and later became the Kawaihae terminal manager for Theo H. Davies on the Big Island.

> Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $1.1 million to support ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center's mobile science laboratory. The grant will help to construct and design the mobile science unit; develop training, curriculum and staffing plans; transport and operate the lab across the Hawaiian islands; and evaluate the effectiveness of the project.

> East West Center has received two grants totaling $970,000 from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to support the U.S. Timor-Leste and U.S. South Pacific Scholarship Programs over a five year period. These programs will help to develop a corps of leaders who will contribute to economic, political and social development in their home countries and to strengthen relations with the U.S.

> Hawaii Island Beacon Community has awarded a $680,000 contract to North Hawaii Community Hospital to implement a Health Information Exchange system throughout the North Hawaii region, impacting more than 32,000 patients and marking the first step toward an island-wide HIE. Implementation has begun and will continue through 2012. Hawaii Island Beacon Community is a $16.1 million, island-wide, federally funded, collaborative project administered through the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, working to improve health care on Hawaii Island. North Hawaii Community Hospital is a rural 29-­bed acute care hospital in Waimea. Nonprofit, community owned and locally governed, the hospital opened in May 1996 and cares for Big Island residents and visitors.

> Hawaii Community Foundation has awarded the Queen's Medical Center's Cancer Center a grant of $150,000. The funds were made possible through the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention & Control Trust Fund.

> Hawaiian Airlines has generated a $140,000 donation for the American Diabetes Association Hawaii. The donations were raised during the "2011 Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes." The total amount raised by the 2011 walk was $535,000.

> Office of Hawaiian Affairs has awarded a $100,000 Kaiaulu grant to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center pharmacy department. The grant will be used to hire a clinical pharmacist to its team in the treatment of Native Hawaiians with diabetes.

> First Hawaiian Bank Foundation has awarded a $70,000 grant to Hawaii Preparatory Academy. The grant will be used to purchase two buses, which will transport HPA students to off-campus activities.

> Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice has received a grant of $50,000 from the Hawaii Community Foundation to support its research and public policy efforts, such as expanding the school meals program, suggesting cost effective options for housing our homeless population and exploring the impact that the recession has had on our low income residents.

> Hawaiian Electric Industries Charitable Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Maui Memorial Medical Center Foundation. The grant will support MMMC's new Heart, Brain and Vascular Center.

> Central Pacific Bank has donated $49,145 of materials to Habitat for Humanity and ReUse Hawaii. Materials include door thresholds, medicine cabinets, granite countertops and doorknobs, which will be used for future building projects.

> Kanu Hawaii has received a $15,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente to research so-called "food deserts" in Hawaii in an effort to get fresh local food to communities that lack convenient access to such products. Many areas have fast-food restaurants and convenience stores, but relatively few supermarkets, farmers' markets or other stores that offer fresh foods. Beginning in February, Kanu will focus on Central and Leeward Oahu and on Hawaii island, areas that Kaiser has identified as having populations with a high incidence of obesity, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes. Kanu plans to work with convenience stores in identified areas, or with mobile markets to bring in fresh local produce, especially for low-income residents receiving government food subsidies.

> Jack in the Box restaurants Hawaii franchisee of made a $15,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii. The donation was partly funded by the sale of Star-Advertiser newspapers at Jack in the Box restaurants. The check was presented to the Boys & Girls Club at the new Jack in the Box restaurant in Waianae.

> Kahilu Theatre Foundation of Kamuela has received a grant of $10,000 from Native Arts & Cultures Foundation for its Tenth Annual Ukulele and Slack Key Guitar Institute which will gather ukelele and slack key guitar masters at the Kahilu Theatre for several days of public performances, training workshops and youth school shows.

> Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus has been awarded $10,000 by the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation for its OPERAtunities project. Students from fourth to 12th grades will premiere a newly commissioned, two-hour, two-act opera in July of 2012, composed by Herb Mahelona, Jr. and accompanied by a 12-piece orchestra.

> Women’s Fund of Hawaii announced its final grant distribution for 2011.  In partnership with the Omidyar Ohana Fund and Hawaii Community Foundation, a total of $42,500 was awarded to eight nonprofit organizations which provide programs that empower women and girls in Hawaii.

• Aloha Medical Mission received $5,000 for its Welcome Smile program, a women’s cosmetic dentistry project at their Honolulu Dental Clinic, located at Palama Settlement, which offers free interim dental care for those without insurance or financial means of paying for care.
• Learning for a Lifetime was awarded $5,000 for its Girls’ Power of Writing Club, which uses writing to teach girls they are the heroes of their own life stories.
• Life Foundation received $5,000 for its HIV prevention program for women, which provides counseling, support, safe sex kits and HIV testing to high-risk women on Oahu, including Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, partners of HIV positive men and sex-industry workers.
• Malama Na Makua A Keiki, the Malama Family Recovery Center, received $5,000 for gender-specific substance abuse treatment services targeting women who have chemical dependency issues, with priority given to pregnant and parenting women. WFH funded their Early Learning Center, which provides early childhood care and learning services to infants and children during intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment, allowing mothers to feel that their children are safe and well cared for while they are in treatment. 
• Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor was granted $5,000 for its Summer Science Program for Girls, a special project that encourages girls in math and science to support the right of women to be self-determining from a young age.
• PARENTS received $5,000 for a special project aimed at educating women and children who are at-risk for abuse and neglect by targeting low-income households and underserved areas throughout Oahu and East Hawaii Island. The program will provide a series of educational sessions focusing on building self-esteem, safety, nutrition, managing stress and anger, positive discipline and communication, child related and parental skills building, and the effects of substance abuse. 
• Waikiki Health Center was awarded $7,500 for its Perinatal Addiction Treatment of Hawaii Clinic, which provides OB/GYN services, education and nonjudgmental support to women with a history of substance abuse to promote healthy birth outcomes and capable parenting.
• Windward Spouse Abuse Shelter received $5,000 in collaboration with the Paul and Vi Loo Foundation to support its safe haven for women and their children who have been victimized by domestic violence and homelessness. They provide a 24-7 crisis hotline, emergency shelter services, personalized safety plans, life skills and supportive services in a safe and nurturing environment.