Annual Meeting Recognizes Volunteer Contributions to the Waikiki Community Center

On March 7 at Hale Koa Hotel, Waikiki Community Center will honor 130 individual volunteers who contributed their valuable time and energy to the cause of supporting people in our community.  These individuals were instrumental in leading and facilitating over 1,204 activities, classes and events held at and for the Center throughout 2011, for a grand total of 8,077 hours of service.

These acts of kindness and generosity to the volunteers themselves might seem insignificant and small, but to those who benefit from their expertise, their helping hands and their joyful spirits they and we at the Center are all the more enriched and better for it.  Our volunteers teach classes once and sometimes twice a week, throughout the year.  Some assemble bulk mailings for our newsletters, fundraising letters and events.  Others serve on our Member Advisory Council and serve as ambassadors to our community.  And small armies of volunteers provide critical services for our annual fundraising events, Na Mea Makamae o Waikiki in autumn and the Duke Kahanamoku Challenge in winter.

Last year the Center honored John Signore as our Volunteer of the Year, who donated hundreds of volunteer hours over the years to facilitate ukulele sessions here and we honored our local elementary schools – Waikiki School, Jefferson Elementary and Ala Wai Elementary – whose students and families collected emergency food to be disbursed at the Center.

The Independent Sector, a private organization that monitors volunteerism across the United States, values each hour of volunteer service in Hawai`i the equivalent of paying someone $17.94 per hour.  If we aggregate the volunteer contributions to the Center in 2011 the Independent Sector helps us understand the value of their generosity: $145,000, easily the equivalent of 3 professional level staff, full-time.

To each one and all of our volunteers in 2011 we offer our humble and sincere thanks, mahalo and Aloha.  The Waikiki Community Center could not provide these services and activities without you. (Return to top)

Mike Lee

Interim Executive Director

Ushijima Architects Selected for Electrical Retrofit Project

In December a committee of the board of directors selected Ushijima Architects to upgrade the electrical capacity of the Waikiki Community Center, through a $506,300 HUD-grant through the Department of Community Services, City and County of Honolulu. 

The scope of the project will replace the Center’s electrical transformer, install protective bollards and electrical distribution panel, cables and may include upgrading the Center’s fire alarm system, electrical wiring, lighting fixtures, circuit panels, exterior security lighting and air filtration cooling system and facilitate the conversion to energy efficient devices, depending on what can be accomplished within the limits of the grant. We anticipate this project to be completed by late summer.

We are excited about what this will do to lay the foundation for future improvements of the Center’s facilities that will benefit our users, partners and participants for years to come.

Stay tuned for future updates!