Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii's Monthly e-Newsletter

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Aloha Friend of Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawai'i,

This month Big Brothers Big Sisters of America featured our longest-matched pair on Maui, Big Sister Katie and Little Sister Laila. Click HERE to read their incredible story of hope and perseverance.

As you'll see below, we have a LOT going on in Hawaii Island, Kauai, Maui, and Oahu and a lot of thanks to give. We are ever grateful to our community partners and advocates who believe in the power of mentoring to transform lives.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Dennis Brown
President / CEO

Video of the Month

Check out how we surprised Oahu Community-Based Big Brother of the Year, Ryan Tsuji, LIVE on OCSports! This was one of our greatest surprises ever!

Island Updates

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hawaii Island

Here's Big Sister Jyselle and Little Sister Davery of the Hilo Union Elementary School program finishing their group mural, which was featured in the "Art to Go" gallery at Le Magic Pan in downtown Hilo this month.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu

Matches in our Holomua program had a fun outing with dinner at Atkinson Grill and then a College Fair at the Convention Center. Bigs and Littles in this unique program correspond weekly via email and meet in person once a month. Email Margaret at mcadiz@bbbshawaii.org to learn more!

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kauai
After receiving permission from the Kapa’a High School administration, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kauai’s Kapa’a Elementary School matches engaged in a beautifying project on campus. The beautification project involved painting over graffiti that showed up on one of the schools stairwells a few months ago. Mahalo to Home Depot for donating all of the supplies for the project. Here’s Little Brother Kysen and his Big Sister Andjela adding their special touch!

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui

At Community Day in our Mentor Center we made fuzzy creatures out of pipe cleaners, pompoms, and eye balls. Check out Little Sister Trensia's creations!

Mahalos

Nordstrom Inc., one of the nation’s leading fashion specialty retailers, celebrated the opening of its new, relocated store at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu with an evening gala on Tuesday, March 8, 2016. The event benefitted Aloha United Way, with funds supporting Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii and Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii. From the gala, Nordstrom raised $120,000 for our community. We are so grateful!

A few of Kauai’s matches got together to participate in a photo shoot at the beautiful Wailua River. Mahalo to Rhye and Nate Daub of Rhye’s Photography for donating their time and talents to capturing the matches at their best! Here’s Little Sister Ruth with her Big Sister Jenny enjoying a special moment together at the photo shoot. You may also click HERE to see some other work by Rhye’s Photography.

Hawaii Alpha Delta Kappa Gamma Chapter donated a large box of books to our Maui Mentor Center. The kids were excited by the wide selection and
were eager to start reading their new books!

A BIG mahalo to the NFL Foundation for donating 2016 Pro-Bowl Gear to Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii! Our Bigs and Littles were thrilled!

Mahalo nui loa to our amazing guest speakers from a clinical health class at King Kekaulike High School who shared great information on how to stop germs and the importance of immunizations. Stay healthy out there!

The Whole Foods Fundraiser in March raised over $17,000! Big mahalos to all of you grocery shoppers out there! Special thanks to all of our Bigs and Littles who helped man our table with music and magic tricks, and to our partners at Whole Foods!

The Locations Foundation awarded Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii with a grant of $10,000 to support after school mentoring programs for the third year in a row! A special mahalo to Board Member, Corinda Wong, for being our advocate!

The California Pizza Kitchen Fundraiser on April 26 raised over $900 for our mentoring programs! Mahalo to everyone who participated in this delicious event, and to our friends at CPK for their generosity!

Upcoming Events

MAUI – June 4: Bowl Like A Rockstar (open to all!) Join Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui for the 29th Annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake. This year the theme is “Bowl Like a Rock Star.” Visit bbbshawai.org/rockstar for more information or contact Char Thomas at char@bigsofmaui.org or 442-7894 for participation details.

OAHU - May 7: BBBSH Community Work Day in the Ho’okua’aina Lo’i (open to matches and families) in Maunawili (Kailua), 8:15am-1pm, including lunch. Limited to 40 volunteers. Contact Nate Fong at nfong@bbbshawaii.org / 695-4565 to RSVP.

OAHU - May 12: Perfect Pairings (SOLD OUT!) Mahalo to all who purchased tickets for our third annual Perfect Pairings event! The evening at Oahu Country Club will include custom menu creations from Chef Alfred of Oahu County Club with wine pairings carefully chosen and narrated by Master Sommelier Patrick Okubo. Get ready to enjoy a silent auction featuring unique packages, items and experiences you won’t find anywhere else!

OAHU - May 21: Visitor Industry Charity Walk (open to all!) at Ala Moana Beach Park - McCoy Pavilion, complimentary continental breakfast at 6am, walk begins at 7am. BBBS is a recipient of this Charity Walk and will be recruiting anyone and everyone who wants to walk. The more participation we get, the more money we will raise. Feel free to invite family, friends, co-workers, teammates and anyone and everyone you know to walk for BBBS. Contact Nate Fong at nfong@bbbshawaii.org / 695-4565 for a registration form.

OAHU - June 4: Re-scheduled Waihee Watershed Tunnel Tour (matches only) 9:15am-1pm including lunch. We’ll be meeting at Kahaluu Regional Park to park and carpool to the entrance of a mile hike to the water tunnel where we’ll be walking ankle deep in the tunnel water and learning how rain water is collected in mountain pools and takes 25-yrs. to reach our faucets. RSVP to your Case Manager by Wednesday, May 18.

OAHU - July 9: Locations Foundation Movie Day (matches and families) - Each year the Locations Foundation generously sponsors a summer movie day for Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boys & Girls Club. Join us to watch “The Secret Life of Pets” - more details to come.

OAHU - August 20: Kawailoa Wind Farm Tour, North Shore (matches only), time TBA but will be in the morning with lunch included. Limited to 10-matches. Contact your Case Manager for more information.