PUHI — Gary Yamamoto, president of the Kaua‘i High School Foundation, said the presentation of the Lima Kokua ‘o Ke Kuhiau Award was delinquent by three years because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented any gatherings.
Nominated by Fred Morinaka of Honolulu, Yamamoto and Leland Tottori presented the long-awaited award to Alan Tada, 10-year chair of the KHS Foundation Golf Tournament and proprietor of Flowers Forever on Kalena Street in Lihu‘e. Tada is a graduate of Kaua‘i High School, Class of 1971.
During the dinner reception at The Plantation House by Gaylord’s at Kilohana, Yamamoto said the awarding of the Lima Kokua ‘o Ke Kuhiau Award was voted unanimously by the KHS Foundation board of directors to Tada for his generous aid and assistance in supporting and advancing meaningful programs, projects and academic endeavors to benefit Kaua‘i High School and its students.
Mayor Derek Kawakami, also a graduate of Kaua‘i High, added to the award a mayoral proclamation recognizing the “tremendous impact Alan Tada has had on the Kaua‘i High School Foundation.”
“Through Alan’s dedication and diligence in initiating and chairing the foundation’s annual golf tournament fundraiser from 2010 to 2019, the foundation has netted a total of $361,355 in proceeds that have been used in financial support of all 43 sports activities at the school, student scholarships, capital improvements projects, and the foundation’s general projects grant programs,” Kawakami said in his proclamation.
“Alan’s strong efforts at promoting the foundation’s name, doing the work solely to benefit his alma mater, disseminating foundation information centered on its mission statement and creating first-class golf fundraising events, much to the enjoyment of all participants over the years, have created lasting benefits for the foundation and community,” the proclamation states.
All of these achievements are beyond the fact that he is the proprietor of Flowers Forever, which is well-known and loved in Lihu‘e, Kawakami said. Flowers Forever has been serving the people for 36 years.
Yamamoto said the Lima Kokua ‘o Ke Kuhiau is presented to a volunteer who has performed beyond all expectations and with extraordinary spirit and is recognized and accepted as the highest service honor to be bestowed on an individual by the Kaua‘i High School Foundation.
Additionally, Tada was presented with a specially created crystal bowl that sat in Tottori’s garage in anticipation of the presentation, and a specially created certificate from the foundation.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
