VFW Post lists events this week
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 12112 is located behind Kona Locksmith off Kaiwi Street.
The following events will be conducted this week:
Free coffee is served starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Veterans are invited to meet for camaraderie with others who have served honorably.
A POW/MIA recognition ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Friday.
The $5 Friday dinners are back. This week it’s a pizza dinner with salad and dessert served from 5 to 7 p.m.
Saturday the VFW Auxiliary meets at 10:30 a.m..
Daily lunch will continue to be served at the post from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. by Privateers Cove Catering at $10 for a multiple choice stir-fry and a soda.
Starting this week, the post bar will open to accommodate football fans. Sunday, the doors open at 10 a.m., Monday (normally closed) at 2 p.m. and for Thursday, although it’s open, games are at 3 p.m.
For more information, call Don Zero at 509-879-1040.
Rotary Means Business meets
Big Island Rotarians and their guests will meet for Rotary Means Business-Big Island from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday upstairs at Humpy’s Showroom.
Rotary Means Business-Big Island is a member under the Rotary Means Business Fellowship founded for Rotary International.
For more information, contact Darlene Daboling at d.daboling@gmail.com or 443-4214 or visit rotarymeansbusiness.com.
Sept. 26 event benefits VASH
The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii will hold a benefit fundraiser, Blues, Brews and BBQs, beginning at 5 p.m. Sept. 26 at Kahilu Theatre’s Cabaret room in Waimea. Colorado Blues recording artist Kirk James will play his original downhome blues, with beers from Kona Brewery and brisket sandwiches from Da Bomb BBQ. All proceeds will benefit VASH Hawaii Island which assists visitors to the Big Island who experience adversities such as medical emergencies, theft or loss of a wallet, or the death of a loved one.
Doors open at 5 p.m. for beer and barbecue. Show starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $37 and can be purchased online at kahilutheatre.org or by calling the box office at 885-6868.
Limkin, Burke honored
Keola Limkin, former president of the East Hawaii HI HOPES Leadership Board, and Rachel Burke, vice president of the West Hawaii HI HOPES Leadership Board, were nominated and chosen as recipients of FosterClub’s Top 100 Outstanding Young Leaders of 2015.
The young people were nominated by someone they know, such as a child welfare professional, co-worker or friend and selected by FosterClub staff, interns, volunteers and past outstanding youth leaders based on the young people’s leadership and accomplishments.
Limkin spent six years in the Hawaii foster care system and most recently graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and communications. With his degree, he plans to work in social services. Limkin received recognition, along with his fellow HI HOPES board members, as Hawaii’s Outstanding Advocate for Children and Youth in 2013.
Burke spent part of her youth in the Hawaii foster care system and has participated in the HI HOPES Youth Leadership board since it began in 2012 in West Hawaii and the Jim Casey Youth Leadership Institute.
Hiller semifinalist in National Merit Scholarship Program
Parker School senior Carolyn Hiller has been named a semifinalist in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. As one of 16,000 semifinalists, Hiller represents less than 1 percent of the top high school seniors nationwide. To become a semifinalist, Hiller advanced from 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools who entered the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program by completing the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
To advance to the finals, students and their high schools must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about each student’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
Hiller is one of four semifinalists chosen from Hawaii Island. This spring, Hiller will find out if she is one of approximately 7,400 National Merit Scholarship award finalists who will join the 315,000 plus Merit Scholar winners since 1955.
Andrew Odell joins WCS board
Andrew Odell is the newest member of the Waimea Country School Board of Trustees. Odell developed a strong interest in education on the Big Island first as a volunteer with the outreach efforts of Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, where his wife Mary Beth Laychak is the education outreach coordinator.
An attorney licensed in Hawaii, Odell earned his law degree from the University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law, where he served as an editor for the University of Hawaii Law Review. Odell joins fellow trustees Marc Baril, Kelly Barrick, Randy Campbell, Felicity Johnson, Scott March and Lisa McCarthy working on behalf of the school.
Taketa honored as nonprofit innovator
Kelvin Taketa, president and chief executive officer of Hawaii Community Foundation, has been named to the Power &Influence Top 50 list of nonprofit innovators by The Nonprofit Times, a leading national publication for nonprofit executives. A two-time awardee first named to the list in 2010, Taketa remains the only nonprofit leader in the state of Hawaii to receive this recognition.
The Power &Influence Top 50 list, now in its 18th year, celebrates the achievements of executives leading the largest and most impactful nonprofits in the nation. This year’s honorees were selected from a competitive pool of 300 top-performing leaders who have demonstrated innovation and achievement in their sectors. Their organizations provide services and advocate change in industries ranging from health care to public policy, education, equal rights and more.
Taketa has led the state’s largest nonprofit investor and one of the nation’s oldest community foundations for 17 years. Under his leadership, the Hawaii Community Foundation recently launched the Nonprofit Excellence Initiative to develop and award high-performing nonprofits in Hawaii. The Nonprofit Times took note of the initiative’s FLEX Grants program, which provides unrestricted funds to nonprofits, as a measure of Taketa’s innovative impact in 2015.
VASH receives grants totally $9K
Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii Island was recently awarded grants from Rotary Club of Hilo in the amount of $1,000 and Hawaii Hotel and Lodging Industry Foundation in the amount of $8,360.
VASH Hawaii Island provides supportive services for visitors affected by crime, medical emergencies, who experience the death of a loved one or suffer other adversities during their stay on Hawaii Island.
The vision of VASH is that every visitor touched by adversity will also be touched by the aloha spirit.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Kiki at 756-0785 or by email at vashwh@yahoo.com.