International Celebration — Rotary Club of Kaohsiung Central-Taiwan

May 14, 2019

Waikiki Rotarian Flora Lu representing the Rotary Club of Waikiki at the Rotary Club of Kaohsiung Central’s 36th Anniversary Celebration.

Books 4 Kids — Kapalama Elementary School

April 6, 2019

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Waikiki and the many Rotarians who came out to help with the Books 4 Kids project at Kapalama Elementary School.

A lot of happy faces at Kapalama Elementary this morning! Over 600 students had a choice to choose from over 1,000 different books of various titles to keep, take home and read! All the students were so happy which made us all happy too! We have provided books to all the students at Kapalama for the past 6 years.

Thank you Rotary!!!

March for Babies - Water Station

April 20, 2019

WALK TO HELP MORE BABIES BE BORN HEALTHY! Waikiki Rotarians, family and friends provided water to thousands of walkers as they participated in the March for Babies event on Saturday, April 20.  The walk started and ended at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand on the Kalakaua Avenue side of the bandstand.  They marched up Monsarrat Avenue to Paki Avenue and then up to the first look out on Diamond Head Road, just after the lighthouse where the turn around and water station was located. Walkers then returned back to Kapiolani Park walking along Kalakaua Avenue to the finish line.

Serenity Gardens at Pearl Haven Work Day

March 23, 2019

President Stephen volunteered at the Serenity Gardens on Saturday representing Waikiki Rotary along with several other district Rotarians and 20 Army volunteers. Stephen was very busy with using a chainsaw cutting trees, lifting and cleaning. 

Serenity Gardens at Pearl Haven is a District project on the North Shore.

Thank you President Stephen for your dedication!

Cultural Day Exchange — Kaviyangan Ballad Troupe from Wutang Elementary and Middle School Taiwan

March 13, 2019

Sixteen students plus four teachers from Taiwan visited Honolulu to participate in the 2019 Honolulu festival. Encouraging people from around the world to listen to the moving ancient folk rumors of Taiwan's Aboriginal people. In addition, it is expected that students will learn about the historical background of Hawaii and discover and understand the culture of different countries in the exchange of interactions.

This has been a dream in the children's heart. Every child screamed loudly when they learned that they could come to Hawaii. Director Tien followed the team to dream, and also to sing the hope of the children at the Honolulu festival. The team practiced day and night to have a dynamic performance to share with people of Hawaii and around the world. is more of a day-to-night practice.

Wutang in Taiwan is a primary school for Aboriginal people. There are currently three school districts, respectively, vo school district, peace school and poor school district. The majority of school students come from economically disadvantaged and kak families.

This group was sponsored by the Taipei International Rotary district 3480, Kaohsiung District Rotary Club for donating 200 million dollars in honor of our Hawaiian Rotary Club friends in district 5000.

We want to thank  Nora Chen, Steve Koyama, Flora Lu from the Rotary Club of Waikiki for assisting the group on many cultural student exchange events with Waikiki Elementary School, the Rotary Club of Waikiki and so many other functions.

It was an absolute treat to have the Kaviyangan Ballad Troupe from Wutang Elementary and Middle School from Taiwan perform dances and songs at our Rotary Club of Waikiki meeting today. They are all from the Paiwan Tribe, living in a village of 1,000. We thoroughly enjoyed their performance of dance and music and see the authentic folk clothing. This has been a very memorable week for the children of Wutang Schools from Taiwan.

Click on links below to view videos

• https://www.facebook.com/sylviamakkartist/videos/pcb.2526816450680211/2526814670680389/?type=3&theater
• https://www.facebook.com/sylviamakkartist/videos/pcb.2526816450680211/2526813820680474/?type=3&theater
• https://www.facebook.com/sylviamakkartist/videos/pcb.2526816450680211/2526815467346976/?type=3&theater

Waikiki Rotary Reads — Waikiki Elementary School

February 6, 2018

Rotary Club of Waikiki members read to kindergarten students today at Waikiki Elementary school. The Rotary Club of Waikiki are strong supporters of reading and various literacy projects in our community and Reading Aloud to children is one of our many projects. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. Reading aloud to children helps to build motivation, curiosity and memory. Children will develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word. It is very important for parents to read aloud with their children.  Thank you to the Rotary Club of Waikiki and to our many Rotary volunteers!

Angel Tree-Family Assessment Center and Family Promise of Hawaii

December 23-24, 2018

Thank you to Waikiki Rotarian Richard Fikani who planned the 2nd Annual Angel Tree Program that was held on December 23, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Family Assessment Center.  The Angel Tree Program provides the parents and their children with a hot meal (chicken katsu, chop steak, fish, rice, noodles, macaroni salad and a juice drink).  A Christmas Movie is shown to everyone in attendance.  Each child receives a Christmas candy, snacks, a gift and a book from Santa Claus. Twenty-one children received Christmas candy, snacks, a gift and a book.  Ten parents and two staff members were in attendance.

Serenity Park Work Day

December 1, 2018

About a dozen Rotarians gathered on the North Shore of Oahu at the abandoned Crawford’s Convalescent Home to work on a project for Ho ‘ola Na Pua, a local non-profit. Ho ‘ola Na Pua is renovating the abandoned home to provide a shelter for women who have escaped from sex trafficking. The Rotarians are working on a D5000 project to build a Serenity Gardens where the women might meditate, relax and recover.   The Serenity Gardens project is set to last several months and will be completed in May of this year.

Thank you to our club volunteers: President Stephen Morgan. Kathy Higa, Janet Scheffer and friend, Jade Powers and daughter, Paul McGillicuddy. Other volunteers that also helped included: Mark Merriman, DG Win Schoneman and Lyla Berg.

Food Drive — Waikiki Community Center

November 24, 2018

The Rotary Club of Waikiki collected canned foods over a two week period and delivered them to the Waikiki Community Center on 24 November 2018. Hundreds of cans were collected and the Waikiki Community Center was very grateful for the delivery.

Community Service Director Paul reported that his team of 12 Waikiki Rotarians had a very successful day manning the information booth for Children's Youth day at the Hawaii State Capitol. It was a hot day and the volunteers were busy: finding a lost child, finding two lost cell phones, helping with trash pickup, and lots of other things. He said there were about 50,000 people in attendance. They answered myriads of questions for directions ATM’s, first aid, concert stages, activity booths etc. They provided hundreds of goodie bags to families and kids.

In 1994, the Hawai‘i State Legislature and Governor established Children and Youth Day (CYD) in Hawai‘i as the first Sunday of every October to celebrate and honor our children and youth and the special contributions they make to our community. After much community discussion, Act 30 of 1997 was passed to dedicate the entire month of October as Children and Youth Month in Hawai‘i. Children & Youth Day happens on the first Sunday of October, each year. CYD is a time to recognize the potential and special gifts of our keiki (children) and ‘opio (youth). It is a time for them to shine and share their bountiful energy with their community.

Dictionary Project — Likelike Elementary School

September 26, 2018

The Rotary Club of Waikiki provides dictionaries to every third grader every year to Likelike Elementary School in Palama-Kalihi, Oahu. Rotarians Mela, Nora and Gloria presented dictionaries and gave the students a brief overview on the use of the dictionaries, we looked up words and shared fun facts that can be found in the dictionary. Always a great day to share the gift of a dictionary.

We give dictionaries because it is the best learning tool a students can have throughout their learning years. This is a special dictionary it has more than words and definitions, it also contains the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Multiplication tables which the third graders are learning this year. It also includes information on U.S. States, Facts about Countries and Locations, Maps, Planets (did you know Pluto is no longer a planet?) Biographies on all of our U.S. Presidents, Metric, Braille, Sign Language and so much more.

The goal of this program is to assist all students in becoming good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary. The dictionaries are a gift to each student to use at school and at home for years to come. Educators see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn, so we encourage our members to give dictionaries each year to children in the third grade.

Dictionary Project - Kalihi Kai Elementary School

September 18, 2018

Rotarians Patti, Nora, Rhodora, Stephen and Gloria presented dictionaries to the third grade students and teachers at Kalihi Kai Elementary.

The students were so excited to receive their very own dictionary. One student was actually using her brother's dictionary when he received it 3 years ago from the Rotary Club of Waikiki, he is now in the sixth grade and you could see that he used the dictionary a lot.

Why are we giving dictionaries...A dictionary is perhaps the first and most powerful reference tool that a child should own. Its usefulness goes beyond the spellings, pronunciations, and definitions it lists; it is a companion for solving problems that arise as a child develops his or her reading, writing, and creative thinking abilities. Students benefit from an increased self-reliance and resourcefulness inspired by the maxim "look it up". Teachers benefit by knowing that their students have consistent access to a tool for homework and in-class explorations. We emphasize the importance of using a dictionary to make sure that all words are spelled correctly.

The program is an opportunity for children to expand their vocabulary and for many to actually own a dictionary. A strong vocabulary is an essential tool for gaining knowledge. The limits of an individual's language are the limits of his world. A large vocabulary does not guarantee success but a small vocabulary limits the use that a person can make of his or her natural abilities. Low vocabulary decreases the effectiveness of inborn gifts in any civilization.

Dictionary project - Navy Hale Keiki School

September 8, 2018

Rotarians Patti Mitchell and Dave Livingston presented dictionaries to the third grade students and teachers at Navy Hale Keiki School in support of our military families. They shared a brief lesson on the importance of using a dictionary, a review of all the many things that can be found in this special edition of the Students Dictionary.

A dictionary is important as a quick reference book and a great learning tool.

School Supply Drive at Walmart – Keeaumoku, Honolulu

July 28, 2018 | 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

SUCCESS! What a GREAT day to have a School Supply Drive to help Children in Need for a better Education.

The Rotary Club of Waikiki was in full force at Wal-Mart Keeaumoku to help collect school supplies for children in need. We want to sincerely thank the amazing and generous Wal-Mart Shoppers who made this project a HUGE success. We have never seen so many contribute from their hearts to give to this wonderful project.

We also thank our faithful volunteers; without our volunteers and our project chair Paul McGillicuddy we could not have accomplished this extraordinary task.

We collected a large suburban SUV full of school supplies and collected over $1,000 in cash. With the cash, 109 backpacks were purchased and packed with school supplies. The school supplies were given to The H.O.M.E Project, Kalihi Kai Elementary School, Waikiki Elementary School, and Fisher House at Tripler.