Catholic Charities Hawaii receives $5 million grant

The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation on July 7 revealed plans to donate $5 million to Catholic Charities Hawaii, the single largest contribution to the nonprofit since it was founded in Hawaii 61 years ago. The funds will go towards the organization's $28 million capital campaign to purchase and renovate its Makiki campus.

Catholic Charities purchased the 2.2-acre Makiki property on Keeaumoku and Nehoa streets from First Presbyterian Church two years ago. Including the grant from the Ching Foundation, it has raised $17 million toward its $28 million goal and has another $11 million to go.

CCH president and CEO, Jerry Rauckhorst, told the Honolulu Advertiser that the organization expects to save about $500,000 per year it now spends to rent space once the renovations, which are planned to begin in September and be completed in October 2009.

The $135 million Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation is Hawaii's third largest grant-making foundation and was founded in 1967 by Ching, a local developer who built the Kukui Gardens housing complex in Honolulu. The foundation was in the news recently for its $5 million grant to the University of Hawaii for renovating and expanding Cooke Field on the Manoa campus.