For Kaua`i Exclusive: Kaua`i Aloha Endowment Fund Awards $10,000 to Leadership Kaua`i Laulima Project

LIHUE, HI – The Kaua`i Aloha Endowment Fund Advisory Committee has recently awarded a $10,000 grant to Leadership Kaua`i’s Laulima Project. The project serves as an island-wide collective impact initiative for Kaua`i high schools. Currently piloted at Kapa`a High school, Leadership Kaua`i has already seen significant results including increased class attendance, academic improvement and decreased behavioral issues. These results are, in part, due to the partnership of Leadership Kaua`i with Kupu A’e, Department of Education, and Kaua`i industry partners to ensure student and teacher success. The funds are intended to support materials needed to extend the Lualima project at Kapa`a High School and expand it into Kaua`i’s other high schools.

“Leadership Kaua`i’s ‘Laulima Project is a program that has a particular emphasis on the local values associated with Hawaiian culture, said Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami of the Kaua`i Hindu Monastery.  “This is what the advisors of the Kaua`i Aloha Endowment Fund refer to simply as the “aloha spirit.” Veylanswami has served the Kaua`i Aloha Endowment Advisory Committee for six years and is in his final term on the committee. He and the members of the Hindu Monastery have provided support for the fund through the Friends of the Kaua`i Aloha Endowment.

“This fund is an investment, intended to preserve Kaua`i’s special sense of community. Through the work of the fund’s founders and through annual contributions, the programs that benefit Kaua`i will be supported for generations,”  said Margy Parker, member of the committee. Margy Parker and Rev. Bodhinatha are joined by Barbara Curl and Laurie Ho on the Kaua`i Aloha Endowment Advisory Committee.

The Kaua`i Aloha Endowment Fund was established in 2000 at the Hawai`i Community Foundation from contributions by a variety of donors.  The purpose of the fund is to support projects and programs on Kaua`i that protect, preserve and enhance the island’s natural beauty, promote its culture and arts and serve the needs of individuals and the community.  The fund serve to perpetuate the vision, “Aloha:  It’s Kaua`i’s Spirit.”

About the Hawai`i Community Foundation

With 95 years of community service, the Hawai`i Community Foundation is the leading philanthropic institution in the state.  The Foundation is a steward of more than 600 funds, including more than 160 scholarship funds, created by donors who desire to transform lives and improve communities.  In 2011, more than $43 million in grants and contracts were distributed statewide.  The Foundation also serves as a resource on community issues and trends in the nonprofit sector.