Hawaiian Electric corporate giving focuses on improving quality of life for vulnerable community members Total of $75,500 donated to seven Hawaiʻi nonprofits

Hawaiian Electric corporate giving focuses on improving
quality of life for vulnerable community members
Total of $75,500 donated to seven Hawaiʻi nonprofits
HONOLULU, July 7, 2022 – Hawaiian Electric has donated a total of $75,500 to seven Hawaiʻibased nonprofit organizations that provide social services to help improve the quality of life for
vulnerable community members on the five islands served by the company:
Feeding Hawaiʻi Together intends to keep pace with the projected increase of food-insecure
households on Oʻahu by providing consistent and reliable access to nutritional food through an
e-commerce food distribution program that gives clients a dignified and compassionate way to
shop for free groceries and pick up items curbside.
Helping Hands Hawaiʻi has allocated funds to its Community Clearinghouse, a year-round
donation warehouse in Kalihi that gives struggling individuals and families access to free
household goods, furnishings, clothing and basic essentials, which allows them to save their
limited resources for future self-sufficiency.
Imua Family Services has directed the donation to its Camp Imua Program, a summer camp
that creates safe recreational experiences for children with cognitive and/or physical challenges
who live on Maui, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi.
Kuʻikahi Mediation Center, the sole nonprofit mediation center serving East Hawaiʻi, will use
the donation to help its clients – more than half who live below the poverty line and may have
difficulty navigating the legal system – resolve interpersonal conflicts and community issues
through low-cost or free mediation services as an alternative to costly litigation.
The Legal Clinic will direct funds to its Advocacy & Community Education on Immigrant Rights
program to reach vulnerable foreign-born Hawaiʻi residents through enhanced social media
presence, multi-lingual information, public presentations and targeted outreach efforts. These
underserved populations often need an advocate on fair immigration policies, awareness of
immigrant justice issues and free or low-cost immigration legal services.
Mālaʻai will use the funds to support its Culinary Garden at Waimea Middle School, which
provides hands-on, food-based education in an outdoor living laboratory and cultivates
connections between people, land, food and culture. Crops are harvested and shared with
Waimea community members, teachers, administrators and students, many who live at or near
the poverty level, which enhances food security for those in need.

Project Vision Hawaiʻi will use the funds to expand its Hiehie Health & Hygiene Outreach,
providing low-income and homeless individuals with vision and health care screenings, dental
supplies, hygiene products and access to mobile hygiene trailers with hot showers and
bathroom facilities. The program goes directly to encampments, food banks, beach parks and
places where community members in need are located and also helps them apply for SNAP
benefits, health insurance, housing assistance and other services to improve their health and
quality of life.