Recent grants to Hawaii nonprofit organizations

$600,000 gift will help arboretum preserve rare Hawaiian plants

Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation has pledged $600,000 to support the Harold L. Lyon Arboretum’s Micropropagation Lab capital improvement project. This project will develop significantly greater lab capacity and enhance the critical rescue and recovery work the nonprofit Lyon Arboretum Association undertakes to protect and save the rarest of Hawaii’s native plants.

According to Nelli Sugii, director of the arboretum’s Hawaiian Rare Plant Program, “Approximately 90 percent of the 1,400 plant species native to the Hawaiian Islands are found nowhere else in the world.  Consequently, Hawaii has the dubious distinction of being the ‘Endangered Species Capital of the World,’ with more than 300 plant species listed as endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

The Arboretum’s Lab, the only one of its kind in Hawaii, is vital in preventing the extinction of native Hawaiian plant species by maintaining plant and seed bank collections, and propagating plants for use in restoration and reintroduction projects. Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation is a private grant making foundation established by Helga Glaesel-Hollenback. 

> The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a $1.3 million grant to the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii. The funds will be given during the next three years and will be used to improve birth outcomes in the state through public awareness, community outreach and education activities.

> Bank of Hawaii and its employees donated $1 million to 20 nonprofits on Jan. 10 from the proceeds of its inaugural Employee Giving Campaign. Bank of Hawaii employees raised more than $470,000 during October 2010 in the “Making a Difference” campaign. Employees chose the 20 organizations receiving funds: Aloha United Way; Hawaii Meals on Wheels; Alzheimer’s Association, Aloha Chapter; Hawaii Meth Project; American Red Cross, Hawaii State Chapter; Hawaii Nature Center; Boy Scouts of America, Aloha Council; Hawaiian Humane Society; Catholic Charities Hawaii; Hospice Hawaii; Child & Family Service; Kauai United Way; Friendly Isle United Fund; Maui United Way; Good Beginnings Alliance; PBS Hawaii “Hiki No”; Hawaii Foodbank Inc.; Salvation Army, Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division; Hawaii Island United Way; and Teach For America. BOH employees and retirees were able to donate to one organization or spread their donation among many. Their efforts were supplemented by an additional $530,000 from Bank of Hawaii. Donations ranged from $5,000 to more than $280,000 for each of the beneficiary organizations.

> Bishop Museum, the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Department of Botany have received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will be used toward developing a Consortium of Pacific Herbaria that will be based at UH Manoa’s Joseph Rock Herbarium, including digitally imaging almost one million dried plant specimens from Fiji, Micronesia and Polynesia, as well as making collections data and images available online in one portal.

> Hawaii Community Foundation has been named a recipient of a $240,500 Knight Community Information Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The grant, which will be given over a period of three years, will go toward PBS Hawaii’s statewide digital student news network Hiki No. PBS Hawaii partnered with more than 60 public, private and charter high schools and middle schools in January of this year to create the student news network, with content scheduled to be made available in February, according to PBS Hawaii’s website.

> Hawaii Medical Service Association Foundation awarded $225,000 to six community organizations and health programs in the fourth quarter of 2010. Recipients are: Hawaii State Center for Nursing, $100,000 for the Hawaii Partners Investing in Nursing program that looks to recruit and retain nurses in long-term care facilities on Kauai and the Big Island; Hawaii Initiative for Childhood Obesity Research and Education, $55,000 toward its Hawaii 5-2-1-0 Let’s Go Initiative to address childhood obesity; IHS, $35,000 to support a nurse-managed health clinic at the organization’s emergency homeless shelter; Hilo Medical Center Foundation, $25,000 for its Long-Term Care Mobility Van project; Equality Hawaii Foundation, $5,000; and Frank De Lima’s Student Enrichment Program, $5,000.

> The National Football League has awarded $100,000 in grants to 26 Hawaii nonprofits through its NFL Charities Pro Bowl Grant Program. The grants average between $1,000 and $5,000 and were awarded to: After-School All-Stars Hawaii; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui; Children’s Alliance of Hawaii Inc.; Diversity Activities National Association; Family Programs Hawaii; Friends of the Library of Hawaii; Friends of the Missing Child Center – Hawaii; Hale Kipa Inc.; Hawaii Children’s Cancer Foundation; Hawaii Council on Economic Education; Hawaiian Kamalii Inc.; Honolulu Armed Services YMCA; HUGS (Help, Understanding & Group Support); KAMP Hawaii Inc.; Make A Wish Hawaii Inc.; Making Dreams Come True, Valley of Rainbows; Marimed Foundation; Pacific Big Boyz Conference; Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance; Ronald McDonald House Charities of Hawaii; South Maui Sharks; Special Olympics Hawaii; Waikiki Community Center; Waikiki Health Center; YMCA of Honolulu; and YWCA of Oahu. For more information about the NFL Pro Bowl grants and how to apply, click here.

> Kaiser Permanente Hawaii donated $50,000 to the Hawaii Health Information Exchange on Jan. 21, Kaiser’s second $50,000 donation to the Hawaii HIE, a nonprofit established in 2006 by leading health care stakeholders in Hawaii to improve health care delivery throughout the state through seamless, effective, and safe health information exchange. Kaiser also donated $10,000 to the Maui Food Bank and $4,500 to Maui United Way.

> The Public Health Fund of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii has awarded a grant for $15,000 to IHS for comprehensive health screening and referral for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

> Poncho’s Solar Service, a Native Hawaiian-owned small business has presented a check for $10,000 to the Hawaiian Way Fund, to continue its support of cultural and community practitioners. Operated by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the Hawaiian Way Fund unifies donations and gifts by individuals and companies to support cultural and community-based programs.

> Cooke Foundation Ltd. gave a $13,712 grant to Montessori School of Maui for installation of an audiovisual-and-lighting system to help complete a 400-seat multipurpose building on its Makawao campus.

> Boeing Charitable Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to the Community Work Day Program to help with restoration of the 1.5-acre Laie Wetland in Kihei. The two-year project involves litter and invasive-plant removal, native planting and water-quality testing.

> Lahaina Car Wash LLC donated $2,200, raised during a month long grand reopening promotion, to Special Olympics Maui, a sports program for people with developmental disabilities.

> Toyota-Hawaii dealers in December brought in 5,075 pounds of canned food and $1,300 in cash that will allow the Hawaii Foodbank to provide 7,246 meals to the hungry in the Hawaii community.

> Hard Rock Cafe donated to the Maui-based Pacific Cancer Foundation $1,605 raised during the restaurant's Pinktober event in October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

> Attendees of Mayor Alan Arakawa's inauguration donated 2,400 cans of food and nearly $1,000. The donations will be turned over to the Maui Food Bank, Feed My Sheep, Family Life Center, Hale Kau Kau and the Salvation Army, according to the Mayor's Office.