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100 years of Service Above Self
100 years ago, on December 1, 1920 the Rotary Club of Hilo
became the second club in the Territory of Hawai’i . 
THE HILO HOTEL, 1920
THE HILO HOTEL, 1920
Carl S. Carlsmith was named the first President and meetings were held at the old Hilo Hotel.,Over the 100 years, Rotary has been a vital part of the Hilo community. Many significant events and activities have grown our club from the original 13 men only members to nearly 100 members. Almost half the members are women, including our current President, Nancy Cabral, who was also the first female member of the club back in 1988.
A few of our significant accomplishments include:
1949 - After the end of WWII, Carl Carlsmith wrote to
General Douglas MacArthur suggesting that restoring Japan to Rotary would foster World Peace.
MacArthur agreed and at the 1949-50 International Rotary Conference, Japan was welcomed back into
Rotary. Five years later (1955), our club sponsored the Rotary Club of Hiroshima.
1955 – Founded the Boys Club of Hilo. Today it is the Boys and Girls Club of Hilo.
1970-71 – Established the sister-city Rotary relationship with Hiroshima South.
1981 – Served Christmas meals for Kamana Senior Citizens Center. The tradition continues for 40 years.
1997 – Participated in the reforestation of native Koa forest on Mauna Kea above Hakalau.
1999 – Partnered with other Rotarians to sponsor a water purification system in India.
2005 – Teamed with the other east Hawaiʻi Rotary Clubs to clean a shoreline area to create Kūhiō
Kalanianaʻole Park (Rotary Centennial Park).
2009 – Founded first major Club Fundraiser for several years – with the monies raised going to the Hilo
Medical Center Rural Residency Program and other projects through the Club’s Foundation.
2013 – Initiated the Rotary Global Peace Forum held in Honolulu.
2013 – Established the Club’s current fundraiser – Hilo Brewfest.
2016 – Served first Hawaiʻi Island Home for Recovery Thanksgiving meal, continuing today.
2017 – Donated $30,000 that went toward the purchase of Shelter Boxes, tents, shelter kits, and tarps
helping 1764 Fijian households after the devastating earthquake.
2018 – Helped to fund the Global TeleMedicine Project, our club recognized for District International Service.
2019 – Established a satellite Rotary Club – the “Social Squad”
2020 – Developed a video to coordinate with and support Dictionaries for Youth.
2020 – Cooking meals twice a week for the Hawaiʻi Island Home for Recovery, ongoing.
2020 – Creating alternative methods of delivery to continue Reading in Kindergarten, ongoing.
2020 – Helping with the Rotary COVID response in our community. (see below!)
1949 - After the end of WWII, Carl Carlsmith wrote to
General Douglas MacArthur suggesting that restoring Japan to Rotary would foster World Peace.
MacArthur agreed and at the 1949-50 International Rotary Conference, Japan was welcomed back into
Rotary. Five years later (1955), our club sponsored the Rotary Club of Hiroshima.
1955 – Founded the Boys Club of Hilo. Today it is the Boys and Girls Club of Hilo.
1970-71 – Established the sister-city Rotary relationship with Hiroshima South.
1981 – Served Christmas meals for Kamana Senior Citizens Center. The tradition continues for 40 years.
1997 – Participated in the reforestation of native Koa forest on Mauna Kea above Hakalau.
1999 – Partnered with other Rotarians to sponsor a water purification system in India.
2005 – Teamed with the other east Hawaiʻi Rotary Clubs to clean a shoreline area to create Kūhiō
Kalanianaʻole Park (Rotary Centennial Park).
2009 – Founded first major Club Fundraiser for several years – with the monies raised going to the Hilo
Medical Center Rural Residency Program and other projects through the Club’s Foundation.
2013 – Initiated the Rotary Global Peace Forum held in Honolulu.
2013 – Established the Club’s current fundraiser – Hilo Brewfest.
2016 – Served first Hawaiʻi Island Home for Recovery Thanksgiving meal, continuing today.
2017 – Donated $30,000 that went toward the purchase of Shelter Boxes, tents, shelter kits, and tarps
helping 1764 Fijian households after the devastating earthquake.
2018 – Helped to fund the Global TeleMedicine Project, our club recognized for District International Service.
2019 – Established a satellite Rotary Club – the “Social Squad”
2020 – Developed a video to coordinate with and support Dictionaries for Youth.
2020 – Cooking meals twice a week for the Hawaiʻi Island Home for Recovery, ongoing.
2020 – Creating alternative methods of delivery to continue Reading in Kindergarten, ongoing.
2020 – Helping with the Rotary COVID response in our community. (see below!)
NEW MEMBERS
Our meetings are all by Zoom... kind of hard to take great photos of new members!
Welcome to three new members during December!
DANIELLE PRESTON - Education
SHAUN O’BRIEN - Sun Construction
AARON BLAKE - Sun Construction
SHAUN O’BRIEN - Sun Construction
AARON BLAKE - Sun Construction
SPECIAL AWARDS!
CHARLENE and AMOS MEYERS
This amazing couple was honored with the “White Hat” Rotary International Award during our last Zoom meeting.
IN THE COMMUNITY!
“GO COOK ‘EM CREW”
Rotarians and Community Members help cook meals every Thursday for residents at the Hawaii Island Home for Recovery. These chefs also cooked up a great Thanksgiving Day Feast.
Rotarians and Community Members help cook meals every Thursday for residents at the Hawaii Island Home for Recovery. These chefs also cooked up a great Thanksgiving Day Feast.
100 MONTHLY "THINGS" UPDATE
120+ Trees Planted around town!
100 Hygiene Bags for Homeless Women assisted by UHH Delta Sigma Pi
PLUS....
175 boxes of Food distributed to the community.
175 boxes of Food distributed to the community.
100 people attended our Dec. 1 100th Anniversary meeting... by ZOOM!
OCTOBER HAPPENINGS
New Members
Our meetings are all by Zoom... kind of hard to take great photos of new members! Welcome to four new members during October!
PATTI BRAY
Hilo Medical Center Foundation
Hilo Medical Center Foundation
IZZY HUERTAS
Hawaii Home for Recovery
Hawaii Home for Recovery
LARA HUGHES
First Hawaiian Bank
First Hawaiian Bank
LEANA POHEVITZ
Law Student
Law Student
“GO COOK ‘EM CREW”
Rotarians and Community Members help cook meals every Thursday for residents at the Hawaii Home for Recovery. October 29 gave everyone an opportunity to have a bit of Halloween fun!
UPDATE ON OUR "100 THINGS"
OCTOBER GOAL: 100 MASKS
RESULT: 1317 MASKS!
Thanks to all who contributed!
NOVEMBER GOAL: 100 TREES PLANTED
You can be a part of the count! If you plant a tree in November, let us know on our website: hilorotary.org
ROTARY MEANS BUSINESS
You may have noticed that all our new members are always paired with either the business they represent or with their areas of service. Check us out!
Alarm & Access Control Technologies ~ Bay House Bed and Breakfast
BJ Penn Enterprises ~ C. Y. Shikuma, MD, Inc. ~ Century 21 Homefinders of Hawaii
Chris Brilhante Realty LLC ~ Church of the Holy Cross UCC
Coldwell Banker Island Properties ~ Converged Telcom ~ County of Hawaii
CU Hawaii FCU ~ Day-Lum Rentals & Management, Inc. ~ Dept. of Human Services
Department of Water Supply ~ Dodo Mortuary, Inc.
Double H Printed Products, LLC ~ First Hawaiian Bank ~ Global Offsite Care Hawaii Electric Light Company ~ Hawaii Fire Department
Hawaii Fresh Products, Inc. ~ Hawaii Island Home for Recovery
Hawaii Printing / Instant Sign Center ~ Hawaiian Telecom
Healing Hands Publishing ~ Hilo Hearing Aid ~ Hilo Medical Center Foundation Hilo Surplus Store ~ Homelani Memorial Park ~ I Kitagawa & Co ~ Images of Hawaii
Iokua Real Estate ~ K&J Tire Center Inc ~ Kama’aina Motors & Kamaaina Nissan
Kilauea Military Camp ~ Lex Brodie's Tire Co ~ Naomi's World Travel Service
Orchid Isle Auto Center ~ Palace Theater ~ Ron Dolan, CPA & Associates, Inc.
Salvation Army ~ Student at CUNY School of Law ~ Subway Sandwiches
Torkildson Katz Hetherington Harris Knorek Chu
University of Hawaii at Hilo ~ Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii (VASH)
Waiakea Uka Bible Church ~ Wong Way Farms
Yamanaka Enterprise ~ YWCA of Hawaii Island
BJ Penn Enterprises ~ C. Y. Shikuma, MD, Inc. ~ Century 21 Homefinders of Hawaii
Chris Brilhante Realty LLC ~ Church of the Holy Cross UCC
Coldwell Banker Island Properties ~ Converged Telcom ~ County of Hawaii
CU Hawaii FCU ~ Day-Lum Rentals & Management, Inc. ~ Dept. of Human Services
Department of Water Supply ~ Dodo Mortuary, Inc.
Double H Printed Products, LLC ~ First Hawaiian Bank ~ Global Offsite Care Hawaii Electric Light Company ~ Hawaii Fire Department
Hawaii Fresh Products, Inc. ~ Hawaii Island Home for Recovery
Hawaii Printing / Instant Sign Center ~ Hawaiian Telecom
Healing Hands Publishing ~ Hilo Hearing Aid ~ Hilo Medical Center Foundation Hilo Surplus Store ~ Homelani Memorial Park ~ I Kitagawa & Co ~ Images of Hawaii
Iokua Real Estate ~ K&J Tire Center Inc ~ Kama’aina Motors & Kamaaina Nissan
Kilauea Military Camp ~ Lex Brodie's Tire Co ~ Naomi's World Travel Service
Orchid Isle Auto Center ~ Palace Theater ~ Ron Dolan, CPA & Associates, Inc.
Salvation Army ~ Student at CUNY School of Law ~ Subway Sandwiches
Torkildson Katz Hetherington Harris Knorek Chu
University of Hawaii at Hilo ~ Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii (VASH)
Waiakea Uka Bible Church ~ Wong Way Farms
Yamanaka Enterprise ~ YWCA of Hawaii Island
Responding to the Covid Pandemic in Our Community
DICTIONARIES FOR THIRD GRADE
Every year, our club provides free dictionaries to over 200 third grade students in our community. Rotarians show up in the classrooms, give out the dictionaries and provide a “walk through” of the contents. But this year, COVID struck and we could not visit students, many of whom are not even back in the classrooms again.
SOLUTION? create a fun video for students to view online!
A “casting call” went out to the club and ten club stars showed up for the filming! A clever video of live action and cartoon images is now available for the students to watch. Good work, everyone!
READING IN KINDERGARTEN
And it was the same problem for us in classroom reading. Plans are now being made for Rotarians to be videotaped reading the books. Several times a year, each student receives a copy of the month’s book that is being read.
KEIKI HEROES
The NexTech STEM program, which is supported in part by our club, is collaborating in the Covid-19 response with needed PPE inventions and production. In addition, an outreach by way of cartoon "Keiki Heroes" has been created to help educate children about staying safe during this Covid pandemic. Good work, STEM team!
ROTARY MASKS
Rotary Masks were sold for $10 with the proceeds going to the Salvation Army food program.
COOKING LUNCHES
Rotary club members and UHH Athletes have been cooking up some delicious meals for the Hilo Hawaii Home for Recovery.
SUPPORTING COMMUNITY FOOD PROGRAMS
Our Rotary club was tasked with spending $6000 in Covid relief in the community.
$2000 went to an emergency needs COVID KOKUA project.
$4000 is going to an innovative farm to table type project.
Local farmers in the BRIDGES program will provide $2000 each worth of locally grown food to the Salvation Army and the Food Basket.
100 THINGS
As we’ve talked about before, this year our Rotary Club is 100 years old! And to celebrate, we plan to gather 100 “THINGS” that are needed in the community. In September, we tried for 100 cans of SPAM and 100 POUNDS of canned foods.
WE DID IT, AND YOU HELPED!
126 cans of SPAM and 197 POUNDS of canned food was collected
and given to the Food Basket!
WHAT IS THE TARGET FOR OCTOBER?
100 MASKS!
Want to donate? Drop off masks at Day Lum at 2 Kam Ave or at Hawaii Printing Corp at 714 Kanoelehua Avenue.
INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR CLUB?
We are meeting by ZOOM these days on every other Friday at noon. Drop us a note at our website: hilorotary.org
We are meeting by ZOOM these days on every other Friday at noon. Drop us a note at our website: hilorotary.org
We've been busy... even during Covid!
NEW MEMBER
Kazuo Todd, County Fire Department First Responder
"SOCIAL SQUAD" Helps out Hawaii Rise Foundation's Project
AUGUST 19 at the TEMPLE BAR
It was still possible to meet, have fun and do good for the community. The club’s “Social Squad” met at the Temple Bar and was able to collect over $400 to donate to the HAWAII RISE FOUNDATION’s Hygiene Packs. What a great job this community organization does to help in our East Hawaii community! Below, some of HAWAII RISE’s members pack up supplies for distribution.
It was still possible to meet, have fun and do good for the community. The club’s “Social Squad” met at the Temple Bar and was able to collect over $400 to donate to the HAWAII RISE FOUNDATION’s Hygiene Packs. What a great job this community organization does to help in our East Hawaii community! Below, some of HAWAII RISE’s members pack up supplies for distribution.
OUR CLUB'S "100 THINGS" MONTHLY PROJECTS
100 School Backpacks
Since this is our 100th Anniversary Year as a Chartered Rotary Club, we've set out to "do / accomplish / collect "100 Things" each month. AUGUST's project was 100 Backpacks. Keiki served by The Salvation Army needed backpacks, and our club made assembling 100 of them as our August “100 Things” project. Our “100 Things” is a project for each month — a challenge to collect 100 of something that is needed in our community. SUCCESS! We collected 136 backpacks.
100 CANS OF SPAM FOR SEPTEMBER
Our project for September is 100 cans of SPAM for the Food Basket. Want to help? You can drop off cans at either Day Lum Rentals & Management at 2 KamAvenue or Hawaii Printing Corp at714 Kanoelehua Avenue. And thank you!
OH, AND BTW... CONGRATS TO OUR CLUB MEMBER BUSINESSES WHO WERE RECOGNIZED IN THE HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD'S "BEST OF" 2020!
FIRST PLACE!
DODO MORTUARY
Funeral Home
Funeral Home
DAY LUM RENTALS
& MANAGEMENT
Property Management
& MANAGEMENT
Property Management
K&J TIRES
Tire Shop
LEX BRODIE'S FAST LUBE
Oil Change
LEX BRODIE'S FAST LUBE
Oil Change
And six more in Second Place:
ORCHID ISLE FORD
FIRST HAWAIIAN BANK
CU HAWAII FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
HAWAII PRINTING CORP
LEX BRODIES TIRES
SUBWAY SANDWICHES
HILO HEARING CENTER
Congratulations, members!
AUGUST IS ROTARY MEMBERSHIP MONTH!
Why Join Rotary?
Professional Networking ~ Service Opportunities ~ International Awareness
Friendship ~ Good Citizenship ~ Youth Development ~ Ethical Environment ~ FUN!
It’s where PEOPLE OF ACTION, neighbors, friends and problem-solvers share ideas, join leaders,
Professional Networking ~ Service Opportunities ~ International Awareness
Friendship ~ Good Citizenship ~ Youth Development ~ Ethical Environment ~ FUN!
It’s where PEOPLE OF ACTION, neighbors, friends and problem-solvers share ideas, join leaders,
and take action to create lasting change.
As our club begins celebrating the 100th years of existence (our birthday will be on December 1, 2020) we invite you to join us and more than a million other people world-wide in 35,000+ clubs.
Want to help locally? Nationally? Worldwide? Rotarians contribute over 16 million volunteer hours every year... and you can be a part of the projects that create lasting solutions!
And yes, we are still meeting, even in this stressful time of Covid. We meet in person when and where it makes sense, and we offer ZOOM meetings for those who wish to stay home.
Fill out the form on CONTACT US on our website: hilorotary.org
Want to help locally? Nationally? Worldwide? Rotarians contribute over 16 million volunteer hours every year... and you can be a part of the projects that create lasting solutions!
And yes, we are still meeting, even in this stressful time of Covid. We meet in person when and where it makes sense, and we offer ZOOM meetings for those who wish to stay home.
Fill out the form on CONTACT US on our website: hilorotary.org
DOINGS IN OUR COMMUNITY
HOW DO YOU DEMO A SCIENCE LAB IN ONE DAY?
You get seven Club Rotarians together and stand back!
Saint Joseph School says “Thank You!” to Jeremiah Leonard, Misti Tyrin, James Tyrin, Malcolm Chun, Wally Wong, Patrick Smith
Saint Joseph School says “Thank You!” to Jeremiah Leonard, Misti Tyrin, James Tyrin, Malcolm Chun, Wally Wong, Patrick Smith
and Bobby Dugar. (not in order shown)
BACKPACKS!
School will begin soon and many children will need a new backpack. Why New? Because other keiki will have their new backpacks, but if the child is homeless or living in a poverty situation, that child won’t have the same new thing. It’s very hard to feel “normal” when your clothing or “accessories” don’t match the other keiki. For our “100 things each month”, our club is gathering 100 brand new backpacks for distribution to needy children.
AND IN JAPAN....
FLOWERS TO HIROSHIMA
“Yesterday, Vice President Toru Nakano, Director Mitsunori Ueno, Secretay Tetsuro Hiraga, Deputy Secretary Naoto Kawai of the Hiroshima South Rotary Club and I, Yuji Saiki, president, went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to offer the anthuriums you had sent us for the Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial. I’m sure that the anthuriums will comfort the spirits of the victims.”
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.
Service Above Self - Since 1920
Hilo, HI 96720
United States of America