Hilo Native Receives Community Impact Award

Craig Takamine will be honored at the 2019 Ulu Hana: Pewa Awards. Courtesy photo

Hilo native Craig Takamine will be honored at the 2019 Ulu Hana: Pewa Awards by Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF). The Ulu Hana event seeks to highlight the work of the foundation while honoring the families it serves and the supporters who make that service possible.

The Pewa Awards program celebrates some of Hawaiʻi’s most esteemed community leaders. The 2019 awardees are Earl Kawaʻa, Antoinette “Toni” Lee and Takamine, who have all been recognized for their dedicated resilience and interminable commitment to the communities they serve.

The name “pewa” comes from the concept of pewa patches. When a pewa patch is placed along a crack on a wooden surface, it can prevent it from turning into a break. Just as the fishtail joint repaired the valuable calabashes of our Hawaiian ancestors, the Pewa Award nominees help to repair broken communities.

Dennis “Fresh” Onishi has worked for the County of Hawaiʻi for 30 years and currently serves as the governor’s representative for East Hawaiʻi. He met Takamine through his work with the legislature.

“He’s always willing to help out the community,” said Fresh. “People like the Takamines and their company and their workers really give opportunities to not only the adults, but the youths. Especially the youths.”

Takamine’s commitment to the Hawaiʻi Island community includes volunteer projects like Hilo’s NAS Swimming Pool, the Mauna Kea State Recreation Playground and the Panaewa Zoo Playground. He was previously on the Water Board for Hawaiʻi County and a past president of the Hawaiʻi Island Contractors Association.

“Ulu Hana was developed to provide a larger platform to get supporters and interested people together around the work of the Foundation,” said PIDF President and Founder Jan E. Hanohano Dill.

The first event in 2018 was a success and brought nearly 300 people together to celebrate the Foundation’s work serving Hawaiian families.

The 2019 Ulu Hana event is taking place on Friday, April 12, 2019, at the Japanese Cultural Center’s Mānoa Grand Ballroom in Honolulu. It will run from 5 to 8:30 p.m. and include dinner, live music, and a short program showcasing both the work of the Foundation and that of the Pewa Awardees.

For more information about the awardees, the event, and to purchase tickets, visit pidf.org.