Partnerships Bring Needed Funds To Windward’s Hale Ola

Murray Visser (right), president of Rotary Club of Windward Oahu, presented this $10,000 check to Wind-ward Spouse Abuse Shelter executive director Avis Kalama. The club earned the Weinberg Friends grant through community service in order to give it to a charity of its choice. Photo from Murray Visser.

The Rotary Club of Windward Oahu put a recent focus on helping families, in partnership with Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

Last month the club presented a $10,000 Weinberg Friends grant to Hale Ola, the Windward Spouse Abuse Shelter. Rotarians earned the grant earlier by painting Kailua’s Family Promise Center. When a group project such as this is completed and meets the foundation’s standards, it is awarded the grant to give to a nonprofit of its choice.

Hale Ola was a natural pick, according the club president Murray Visser. For more than 20 years, the shelter has been a safe haven and recovery space for women and children fleeing domestic violence. But its budget gets eaten away by continuing needs big and small, such as roof repairs, furniture and appliance replacement, and child-proofing a screen door.

“The shelter needs funding so that it can continue its operation,” said Visser. It’s that simple.

Hale Ola executive director Avis Kalama said the grant will help pay its electric bill (about $1,000 per month) and insurance expenses.