Sony Open Supports Hundreds Of Charities
By Corbett Kalama, president of Friends of Hawaii Charities
PGA Tour golf pro Jimmy Walker wasn’t the only winner during the 2014 Sony Open in Hawaii last month.
More than 100 local charities throughout the Islands will benefit this year through proceeds raised by tournament charity host Friends of Hawaii Charities with the support of Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
These significant efforts have funded programs that serve Hawaii’s most vulnerable, providing hot meals for homebound kupuna, ensuring protection of women ending family violence, offering shelter and support for homeless families with children or supporting at-risk youths to become leaders of positive change in their communities.
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This year Friends of Hawaii Charities reaches the annual “Drive to a Million” goal to distribute another $1 million to local charities throughout the Islands. The 2014 Sony Open also marked the launch of a new fundraising program, Aloha for Hawaii Charities, that added $120,200 in donations between Dec. 1, 2013, and Jan. 12, 2014. People were invited to donate to a participating charity of their choice and trigger a bonus boost for their charity from funds raised at the Sony Open by Friends of Hawaii Charities.
Friends of Hawaii Charities is mobilized to provide kokua where needs are great and resources limited, positively impacting thousands of lives throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
Giving is the heart and mission of Friends of Hawaii Charities, a 501 (c) (3) formed in 1998 by a group of local business and community leaders to generate funding for Hawaii’s not-for-profit organizations that benefit women, children, youths and the impoverished. Friends of Hawaii Charities has provided $13 million in project grants to more than 350 local charities in the past 15 years. These funds have been generated by ticket and sponsorship sales, Friends club members, volunteer manpower and, most importantly, matching funds supplied by Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
To become a “friend” or show your aloha for Hawaii’s charities, please visit friendsofhawaii.org, call 792-9339 or email friend@friendsofhawaii.org.
