100th Year President - Nancy Cabral

On July 1, Nancy Cabral became the new president of the Rotary Club of Hilo for its 100th year. Nancy joined the club on January 29, 1988 as the first woman member and has served in various capacities since that time. As the owner of Day-Lum Inc. she is active in business and in the community.

Rotary and Covid-19

Spring 2020

New Club Members

Beckie Marshall, VASH Services

Lani Olds, Homelani Memorial Gardens

Shane Shitabata, Nissan

Our Club's Youth Scholarship Awardee: Miya Yanagisawa

Miss Miya Yanagisawa is the Rotary Club of Hilo's selection to receive a $5,000 Hawaii Rotary Youth Foundation Scholarship for the 2020-2021 school year. Miya reports: “I am 18 years old and am a part of the graduating class of 2020 from Waiakea High School. I plan to attend San Diego State University in the fall to pursue a degree in Business Marketing."

WHAT HAS ROTARY BEEN DOING

DURING THIS COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL: RI has contributed over $18 million to Pandemic relief and is working the Global TeleMedicine Project which is training and consulting using best practices on treating Covid-19 Virus.

ROTARY IN HAWAII STATE:

1600 Rotarians across the state have been working together and partnering with organizations to find creative solutions to critical needs in response to COVID19. Financial support from the District has helped individual clubs respond to needed Covid related local projects.

AND ALL OUR BUSY EAST HAWAII ROTARY CLUBS:

ROTARY CLUB OF HILO:

RCOH contributed $1000 to the Kupuna of Keaukaha Meals program along with Hilo Bay Club, the Hilo Yacht Club, and Hawaii Rise. The club also contributed to the Tele-medicine project of RI.

ROTARY CLUB OF SOUTH HILO:

The South Hilo club awarded $4,000 each to the Salvation Army, Keiki Care Packs, Boys and Girls Club, Friends of the Children’s Justice Center East Hawaii and Kuikahi Mediation Center.

ROTARY CLUB OF HILO BAY:

Hilo Bay donated $5,000 to the Boys & Girls Club Meal Program, $1375 to The Food Basket plus rebagging over 30,000 lbs of rice, $1,000 to the Friends of the Children's Justice Center of East Hawaii and $2500 to the Kupuna Project.

ROTARY CLUB OF VOLCANO:

This club provided lei and a congratulations card for each graduating Senior from Ka’u High School and helped with the KMC weekend flag raising.

ROTARY CLUB OF PAHOA SUNSET:

Pahoa Sunset Club contributed $500 to Hawaii Food Basket and $200 and a sewing machine to Youth Challenge Academy Hawaii.

Memorial of Bobby Fujimoto

With great sadness, we announce the loss of our Badge #1 member Bobby Fujimoto. Bobby was a major pillar in the Hawaii Community and he loved Rotary. In loving memory of Bobby, Newton Chu has written a memorial, below.

Aloha,

Anna Liu

President 2019-2020

"THINKING" and "DOING" in February!

THINKING....

February 7 - WEAR RED

Wearing RED at our Friday Meeting to help raise awareness about Women’s Heart Health.

February 19 - SOCIAL SQUAD

Having fun and fellowship with club members and friends, the SOCIAL SQUAD met at the Temple Bar on a mid-February Wednesday night. $300 was raised to support the club’s ongoing support of a literacy project in Fiji. Join us on March 18!

FEBRUARY THEME:
PEACE-BUILDING AND CONFLICT PREVENTION/ RESOLUTION

Every month, Rotary International has a “theme”, an “area of focus” for Rotary members around the world to think about and, in many cases, make plans for international projects that can promote peace.

WHERE DO OUR NEW LEADERS COME FROM?

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where high school youth develop their skills as leaders while having fun and making connections. Club members and Rotarians from other East Hawaii Rotary Clubs worked hard to put on this hands-on mentoring event the last weekend in February.

The Rotary Club of Hilo

meets nearly every Friday at noon in the Queen’s Court Restaurant at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.

Drop by and speak to our GREETERS at the door! Welcome!

No time for lunch with us on a Friday?

Join us for our monthly *Social Squad* event at Temple Bar on Wednesday, 3/18 at 5:30pm. We’ll be supporting the *Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders Ambassadors Program" at Pahoa High & Intermediate School.

January 2020... new year... new members!

Wow! Six New Members in January!

Ben Marks ~ Peco Arts

D'Andrea Pelletier ~ our own Opera Singer!

Danni Gardner ~ Day Lum Associations

Julie Kron ~ Paralegal

Patrick Smith ~ Retired

Reese Mates ~ Rotary Shelter Box

BREWFEST RETURNS ON JUNE 27!

The Hilo Brewfest is a fun afternoon of beer tasting, food sampling and entertainment. And it’s also our club’s Signature Fundraising Event that supports two local nonprofits (see below) and other smaller contributions to many projects both local and worldwide.
THIS YEAR, WATCH FOR OUR NEW “BREW-WEEK” FILLED WITH BEER AND FOOD PAIRINGS & FUN!

OUR BREWFEST RECIPIENTS

The Hilo Medical Foundation Residency Program

The Friends of the Children's Justice Center of East Hawaii

OUR CLUB'S SOCIAL SQUAD

No time for lunch with us on a Friday? Join us for our monthly “Social Squad”... coming up this month on February 19 at the Temple Bar at 64 Keawe Street in Hilo.
Our February event is in support of Literacy in Fiji with collected funds going to buy books and school materials for impoverished schools on some of those small, isolated islands.

Malama Honua
celebrating Our 95th Anniversary

The Hilo Rotary Club Foundation presents a donation to Pwo Navigator and Captain of the Polynesian Voyaging Canoe, Hokule'a, to help fund their educational programs on their Malama Honua worldwide voyage. (Left to right: Bruce Blankenfeld, Donald Demuth of the Hilo Rotary Club Foundation, and Club President, Wally Wong)

Edmund Olson is recognized with The Rotary Club of Hilo's Malama Honua award for his efforts in caring for our aina.

“Malama Honua” (to care for our earth) is the theme that we have chosen to celebrate our club's 95th anniversary. Along with Rotary International's theme -- “Be a Gift to the World” -- we are inspired as we start this new Rotary year.

President Wally Wong has sought out community service projects that will build a more sustainable community. Projects such as building a vegetable garden for residents of a shelter to clearing illegally dumped trash in a vacant cul-de-sac area in Hilo. We hope to be an example to other organizations and the community, that in order to stop and smell the flowers, we have to occasionally bend down to pull the weeds or pick up the trash.

These are just a few of the many projects that the Rotary Club of Hilo has planned as it follows the Polynesian Voyaging canoe, Hokule’a, on its Malama Honua sail around the world. On its worldwide voyage, the Hokule’a will grow and join the global movement towards a more sustainable world.

Two individuals who embody the principles of Malama Honua were honored at our Officer Installation: Bruce Blankenfeld, Pwo navigator and Captain of the Hokule’a for his leadership and efforts to educate our youth and Edmund C. Olson of the Edmund C. Olson Trust II for providing agricultural opportunities and building a sustainable future for Hawaii Island.