The Kauai High School Foundation’s “highest service award” — the Lima Kokua o Ke Kuhiau — will be presented to Wilfred M. Morinaka for “dedicated, continuous service far and above all expectations over the past five years to his alma
The Kauai High School Foundation’s “highest service award” — the Lima Kokua o Ke Kuhiau — will be presented to Wilfred M. Morinaka for “dedicated, continuous service far and above all expectations over the past five years to his alma mater.”
Morinaka will be honored at a dinner gala tonight at the Wailua Marina Restaurant.
The award, the first to be presented by the foundation, was established to recognize a volunteer for his or her time, energy and dedicated, continuous service to Kauai High School, according to foundation president Gary Yamamoto.
“Fred Morinaka, for all he has done for his alma mater, is the ideal person to be the first recipient of the Lima Kokua o Ke Kuhiau,” he said.
For the past six years, Morinka, who makes his home on Oahu, has coordinated and directed the foundation’s annual golf tournament, raising nearly $250,000 to support the foundation’s work.
“Fred’s incredible efforts every year have more than given our 8-year-old foundation the opportunity to serve Kauai High School and its students with scholarships, educational programs and capital improvement projects,” Yamamoto said.
“Volunteers of every kind play significant roles in the KHS Foundation,” he said. “But every once in awhile, a volunteer will perform beyond all expectations and with such extraordinary spirit, will, and enthusiasm that simply recognizing or acknowledging his or her achievements would fall dramatically short of proper honor and celebration. To recognize such an individual, the foundation established the Lima Kokua o Ke Kuhiau Award.”
Morinaka, a 1956 graduate at Kauai High School, was a unanimous choice for the honor by the foundation’s board of directors who acknowledged his exceptional character and integrity, along with his demonstrated leadership, loyalty and service to the school and the foundation.
Fred will receive a $2,500 scholarship in his name to a Kauai High School area of study and an engraved crystal bowl.
He will also be nominated for the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, a national program under the auspices of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation to recognize volunteer contributions in their communities.
