Recent grants to Hawaii nonprofits

> Hawaii Community Foundation will award $500,000 in grants over two years to five nonprofit organizations for assistance to individuals and families in need of emergency housing. The recipients are: Catholic Charities Hawaii; Family Life Center; Institute for Human Services; Helping Hands Hawaii; and Office of Social Ministry. Funds came from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

> ASSETS School was one of four independent schools in the nation to receive $400,000 from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. The four-year grant will provide financial aid to low- to moderate-income students at the K-12 school for 400 gifted, dyslexic and gifted/dyslexic children.

> Mental Health America of Hawaii received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service to aid homeless female veterans and veterans with families. The grant will help provide job training, counseling and placement services to help integrate homeless female veterans and veterans with families into the labor force through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program. Mental Health America of Hawaii was one of 26 health groups to receive a grant.

> The 16th annual First Hawaiian Bank - REHAB Golf Tournament held May 26 at the Hawaii Prince Golf Course raised $230,000 to fund charity care and educational scholarships for clinicians at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific.

> Hawaii Medical Service Association Foundation has made $185,000 in grants to eight Hawaii health programs and community organizations. The recipients are: Aha Kane, a foundation for the advancement of Native Hawaiian men, which will receive $10,000 to support its 2010 health conference; American Lung Association of Hawaii, which will receive $25,000 to help with a school-based asthma education program; Bishop Museum, which will receive $30,000 to help fund a traveling professional health education program designed to meet the health education needs of Title I students, their teachers and family members on the Neighbor Islands and rural Oahu; the medical team led by Ilona Higgins, which will receive $5,000 to assist in Haiti earthquake relief; Hawaii Island Adult Care, which will receive $5,000 for a hands-on training and support group for caregivers of elders and mentally and physically challenged adults; Hawaii Speed and Quickness, which promotes athleticism in Hawaii’s youth, which will receive $65,000 for a comprehensive after-school program that uses athletics, mentoring and school-based curriculum for substance use prevention and intervention; Laulima Pacific Inc., a group assisting in substance abuse prevention, which will receive $15,000 for school and community seminars; and Maui Youth and Family Services Inc., which will receive $30,000 for outpatient substance abuse programs.

> Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has donated orthopedic surgical supplies to Aloha Medical Mission valued at nearly $145,000. The Honolulu-based nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that provides free health care to medically indigent areas of the Philippines, Southeast Asia and the Pacific will use the supplies in overseas missions. The donated supplies will be shipped to local hospitals in the Philippines.

> Hearst Foundation awards $100,000 to the Queen’s Medical Center – The Queen’s Medical Center has received a $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation, Inc. to be used on its cancer survivorship program. Queen’s said the program is the first of its kind in Hawaii and has helped more than 100 patients since it began last August. The Hearst Foundation grant allows Queen’s to provide these services free of charge to all cancer patients.

> Mental Health America of Hawaii has received the following grants in support of the Youth Suicide Prevention/Intervention project: McInerny Foundation, $18,000; G.N. Wilcox Foundation, $25,000; Friends of Hawaii Charities, $7,500; Kosasa Foundation, $5,000; and Bank of Hawaii Foundation, $5,000.

> Kahi Mohala has been approved for a $50,000 Matching Challenge Grant from Sutter Health for its Lokelani Phase II renovation, on the condition that Kahi Mohala raises $50,000 from individuals, foundations and businesses.

> Hawaii Community Foundation gave $31,250 to Habitat for Humanity Leeward Oahu to support its ReStore operation. Proceeds will help Habitat's Leeward division.

> Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health, an affiliate of Sutter Health, received $15,000 from the G.N. Wilcox Trust and $15,000 from the McInerny Foundation to raise funds for the renovation and expansion of its Lokelani Child & Adolescent Unit.

> Bank of Hawaii announced four Maui County nonprofits received this year’s Bank of Hawaii Mike Lyons Maui Community Awards. The total donation was doubled this year to $20,000 to be shared equally among the four awardees: Fun Day Foundation, A Keiki’s Dream, which serves Maui County’s neediest children by granting the fulfillment of a dream to children in crisis; Hale Makua Health Services, a leader in the field of elder care; Maui County Salvation Army, which operates numerous programs, including those for youth and the homeless, and social service programs to help those in need of financial assistance; and Maui Economic Concerns of the Community, which provides programs and services to assist low-income families on Maui overcome the challenges of homelessness. The award is presented annually by Bank of Hawaii in honor of the late, retired Bank of Hawaii Senior Vice President and Maui District Manager Michael H. Lyons II, who was a dedicated community leader and served as a role model throughout his 41-year career with the bank. The award is open to any nonprofit 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization in Maui County. Selection is based on exemplary leadership demonstrated by the organization’s executive director, effective fulfillment of the organization’s mission and the organization’s commitment to staff development and training.

> Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has approved a 2-year grant in the amount of $50,000 to the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.  The purpose of the Grant is to support the creation of the Doris Duke Leaders in the Arts Fund, which will subsidize the participation of leaders in the fields of dance, jazz, presenting and theatre in the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute. For more information, or instructions on how to apply, contact Paul Robinson at the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute at ppr@wilder.org or 651-280-2491.

> Hawaii Children's Trust Fund awarded $10,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu for a June public event promoting sustained mentoring relationships. The Hawaii Community Foundation also donated $5,000 and Castle Foundation gave $3,000 to establish a Fund Development Plan for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

> Hawaii HomeOwnership Center received $12,000 from State Farm Insurance to increase the number of low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers in Hawaii. The center has helped more than 620 families purchase their first home, and State Farm has donated more than $150,000 since the center's creation in 2003.

> The Clever Construction Invitational Golf Tournament raised about $10,000 for Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii at the Mauna Kea Golf Course in November. The Big Island construction company is also partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build a new home for a local low-income family next year. The company has requested assistance to help locate and acquire residential property, and to design and build a home at no cost.

> Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health has received $10,000 from ABC Stores. The funds will go towards the renovation and expansion of Lokelani Child and Adolescent Unit, which will improve the common areas of the inpatient unit for acute and residential children and adolescents.

> McInerny Foundation awarded a grant of $7,500 and Atherton Family Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to Diamond Head Theatre. The two grants were used to repair and replace cushioning on the theater seats.

> Hawaii State Chapter of the American Red Cross was awarded a $10,000 grant from Home Depot to raise awareness in public schools about disasters and to recruit evacuation shelter staff. The three-year grant program and partnership between the Red Cross and Home Depot is in its second year to develop disaster preparedness.

> Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center’s campaign to build a new family medical building on the Leeward Coast was assisted by a donation from the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation.

> Chaminade University received a $10,000 grant from the G.N. Wilcox Trust to purchase and install switchboxes in classrooms to upgrade multimedia equipment.

> Hawaii Maoli, a nonprofit arm of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, has received $9,440 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The funds were used to send representatives to the quarterly meeting of the association's Mainland Council and participate in the lei-draping ceremony of the King Kamehameha statue in Washington, D.C.

> Friends of Hawaii Charities has awarded $5,000 to ORI at Helemano Plantation in Wahiawa and $5,000 to Kuakini Health System. The award to ORI will help better serve seniors and the developmentally disabled on Oahu. The Kuakini grant supports the "Healthful Lifestyle Promotions" community program providing free educational materials and health screenings at community events, such as the Great Aloha Run's Sports, Health and Fitness Expo, the First Hawaiian Bank Primetime Wellness Fair and Kuakini's annual open house for students.

> Special Olympics Hawaii received a $2,000 CVS Caremark Community Grant for its annual State Summer Games, held May 28 to 30.