On April 6, 2021, Friends of Hawaii Charities (FOHC) announced a record $1.3 million in grants to Hawaii’s non-profit community. These funds are raised through the 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii with the support of title sponsor Sony Group Corporation, charity partner The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc, many donors and sponsors in the community.
The Institute of Human Services is one of over 100 Hawaii non-profit organizations that will receive funds. The FOHC grant will fund their meal program to the homeless men, women, and children in emergency shelters and specialty shelters.
“Everything COVID we’ve had to deal with and then some,” says Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services. “We serve people by helping them avoid homelessness, so we really had to do a lot of equipping of other people and just really letting them know that somebody cared. We had to take care of people that couldn’t take care of themselves.”
Due to COVID-19, the 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii was held without spectators, events, and on-site hospitality. It is through the generosity of Sony Group Corporation and many others that FOHC is able to distribute this record distribution.
“What was really challenging for us is the anxiety associated with running a tournament with the community really dependent on the fundraising they’re able to do to help our nonprofit organizations,” Corbett Kalama, president of Friends of Hawaii Charities. “People just stepped up. Individuals came up and provided their time. Companies who would normally have used the skybox and enjoyed the amenities, knowing they weren’t able to do that, just wrote a check.”
Some of the grant money will be going towards the meal program at IHS.
“I’m so thankful for Friends of Hawaii Charities,” Mitchell says. “You can’t really talk to someone about other more important things when they’re hungry.”
For more information: friendsofhawaii.org, sonyopeninhawaii.com
This article originally posted on https://www.hinowdaily.com/friends-of-hawaii-charities-announces-1-3-million-in-grants-for-local-non-profits/
