PUHI — Colbie Kanoho, a Grove Farm Company employee, considered the work she did for the Junior Achievement, Kauai to be volunteering. But that effort also earned the Junior Achievement program a grant of $2,500 Wednesday morning as Kanoho presented
PUHI — Colbie Kanoho, a Grove Farm Company employee, considered the work she did for the Junior Achievement, Kauai to be volunteering.
But that effort also earned the Junior Achievement program a grant of $2,500 Wednesday morning as Kanoho presented the award to Ivory Lloyd, the program’s director, and Chris Young of the Junior Achievement board.
Marissa Sandblom, Grove Farm vice president, said the Junior Achievement grant was just one of several presented under the Grove Farm Employee Volunteer grant program in which Grove Farm employees volunteer time and effort to a nonprofit, and Grove Farm rewards that effort with a grant to the nonprofit. In 2015, Grove Farm awarded $8,500 to 15 organizations based on the volunteerism of its employees.
“We are committed to our Kauai community, and our Grove Farm team exemplified that commitment all year long,” Sandblom said. “We value our employees’ time, and this was one way we can share the time put forth by our team.”
The Junior Achievement grant was the highest amount given in the contribution challenge. In support of Kanoho’s volunteer work with the fledgling organization which started in August, Grove Farm issued a matching contribution.
“She was the greatest intern,” Lloyd said of Kanoho. “She might have said she only coordinated setting up the teachers and community resources for the program we started at Kapaa High School, but her efforts were tremendous.”
“We got every board member to demonstrate their commitment to the program by contributing,” Young said. A donation even came from North Carolina, from a man who sent “a very generous check because he was familiar with the Junior Achievement in Hawaii,” Young explained. “He was a member of the program in the 1980s, and he has a grandson at Island School.”
Programs earning $500 grants from Grove Farm include the Waimea High School Athletics-Bowling where Todd Ozaki volunteered. Sharyl Lam Yuen helped at Kapaa High School, and for Boy Scout Troop 133, sponsored by the Kapaa United Church of Christ. Royce Kawabata helped at the Kauai Humane Society and the Nature Conservancy: Kauai Watershed Alliance. Shawn Shimabukuro volunteered at Lanakila Pacific and with the Kiwanis Club of Kauai, where she got additional help from Arryl Kaneshiro, who also was a key leader with the Koloa Plantation Days celebration of sugar plantation lifestyle and history.
Alison Moriguchi, also a Kiwanis volunteer, and Kanoho did work for Junior Achievement.
David Hinazumi spent time at the Lihue Hongwanji Mission Preschool, and Cub Scout Pack 83, sponsored by the church. Reiko Matsuyama volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters as well as the Waimea High School cross country programs.
Sandblom rounded out the volunteerism at the Kauai Economic Development Board: Creative Technology Center, and the Kauai Visitors Bureau: Kauai Lifeguard Association.
Sandblom said that overall, the Grove Farm Foundation distributed more than $160,000 in 2015 through its various programs, including the Grove Farm Scholarships, local nonprofit support or through its employee volunteer grants.
