Continuing a long history of giving to worthy island causes, leaders at the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation (A&B Foundation) last year donated over $112,000 to Kaua‘i groups. The biggest single donation was $30,000, to the Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii
Continuing a long history of giving to worthy island causes, leaders at the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation (A&B Foundation) last year donated over $112,000 to Kaua‘i groups. The biggest single donation was $30,000, to the Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii on Kaua‘i, to help bring home-buyer fairs to the island for the very first time.
To be held this year, the fairs will help prepare and encourage first-time home-buyers, said an A&B Foundation spokesperson.
The donation was “a significant effort” to “address the affordable-housing issue,” according to the spokesperson.
Receiving grants of $20,000 each were leaders at Island School (for new campus buildings) and Wilcox Memorial Hospital (for new campus buildings), while officials at Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, Inc. received $15,000 to establish a recruitment program for their Teen Court program.
Receiving grants of $10,000 each were leaders at the YMCA of Kauai, who are preparing to build a new facility in Puhi, and the University of Hawai‘i Foundation for Kaua‘i Community College endeavors. Another $5,000 went to support the inaugural leadership-training class for Leadership Kauai.
In the area of support for culture and the arts, A&B Foundation leaders granted $2,000 to The Storybook Theatre of Hawaii in Hanapepe, and other grants to support the Kaua‘i Mokihana Festival and Na Kalai Wa‘a O Kaua‘i, the group building the island’s double-hulled sailing canoe.
In the area of community needs, the foundation provided support to 4-H programs, the American Red Cross, CrimeStoppers, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts councils, youth centers, conferences, festivals, and parades, including those honoring Hawai‘i and America soldiers and reservists.
On Kaua‘i, A&B subsidiaries include A&B Properties, Inc., Matson Navigation Company, Kauai Coffee Company, Kukui‘Ula Development Company and Kauai Commercial Company.
Meredith J. Ching, an A&B vice president who serves as chair of the A&B Foundation’s Hawaii Committee, said, “A&B’s commitment to Hawai‘i takes many forms. We provide employment to 1,500 Hawai‘i residents, and we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars back into the state, in our business operations.
“Furthermore, when our companies do well, we are able to direct more charitable dollars to the communities where A&B does business,” she said.
“We look to support organizations that help make our state be a healthy and safe place to live, work and raise a family. These are issues that are important to A&B employees and to our community neighbors.
“We are continually looking for ways to make a difference in our communities,” said Ching. “We look to provide sustained support for mainstay organizations as well as new support for nonprofits pursuing innovative and effective means of meeting community needs and solving community problems,” she added.
“We are proud to say that we have been an active member of many Hawai‘i communities (including Kaua‘i) for more than 130 years.” Last year, the A&B Foundation, funded by the business activities of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. and its subsidiaries, donated more than $1.3 million to 267 separate, nonprofit organizations serving Hawai‘i and the Pacific islands, to help address significant community needs and ensure a better quality of life for Hawai‘i residents, Ching said.
Groups on six islands received A&B Foundation funds last year, with leaders of health and human services agencies getting over $570,000; officials of educational causes receiving roughly $240,000; culture and arts organization leaders receiving over $190,000; nonprofit community and civic leaders getting around $220,000; and environmental and maritime organization leaders granted more than $50,000.
Additionally on Kaua‘i, leaders of Kukui‘Ula Development Co. recently delivered a check for $5,000 to officials at the Kauai Food Bank, as a way of giving back to the food bank for helping hungry Kauaians not only during the holidays, but all year long, said Brenda Sameshima, executive assistant in charge of community relations with Kukui‘Ula Development Co.
United Way organizations on several islands also received around $300,000, with the grants being supplemented by personal donations made by A&B employees and retirees totaling more than $137,000.
Kukui‘Ula Development Co. officials also recently made a sizable donation to leaders of Kauai United Way. Leaders at the A&B Foundation also donated $280,000 to charities on the Mainland where A&B employees do business. A detailed report on 2004 giving by the A&B Foundation will be published next month, and will be made available to the public.
For more information, please visit www.alexander baldwin.com/abf.
