New $1M endowment at University of Hawai’i at Hilo helps students facing financial challenges

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo received a $1 million gift to establish the Kruschel Endowment to Reduce Insecurity, a new fund dedicated to support students facing financial or personal challenges that threaten to disrupt their education.

Rooted in compassion and opportunity, the endowment will provide direct assistance to University of Hawai’i at Hilo students facing financial hardship, focusing on such basic needs as housing, food, transportation, communication, technology and access to essential resources. All encompassing, the fund targets the everyday challenges that too often force students to choose between survival and success.

Created by a gay married couple with kids who relocated to Hawai‘i Island from San Francisco, the endowment reflects their shared belief that education is a pathway to opportunity and stability. The donors, Gary and John, were moved by their own family histories and a deep commitment to helping others.

“Education changes everything,” Gary said. “My mother was born into abject poverty in a New York City tenement and used education to build a better life for herself through full-ride scholarships. We want to give UH Hilo students the same chance – to focus on their education instead of worrying about their basic needs.”

The KERI fund addresses rising concerns about the number of UH students facing housing, food and financial instability. The new endowment will bolster UH Hilo’s capacity to respond quickly and caringly when students face emergencies.

“We’ve seen how quickly poverty and uncertainty – when you can’t count on where your next meal or rent will come from – can turn everyday challenges into overwhelming barriers,” John said. “It’s hard to focus on school or work under those conditions, so we wanted to make sure UH Hilo students facing financial hardship wouldn’t have to give up their education just to take care of their basic needs or their families.”

The gift represents the very heart of UH Hilo’s mission to support students through every stage of their journey.

“We are a campus that meets students where they are, both academically and personally,” said UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin. “The Kruschel Endowment gives us the ability to respond when life’s challenges threaten to derail a student’s dreams. It’s a powerful expression of aloha and belief in the transformative potential of education.”

The fund’s impact complements UH Hilo’s strategic goal of expanding opportunities and aligns with the campus’s basic needs programs, helping fill the gaps between financial aid, scholarships and daily living expenses.

Gary and John view their endowment as both a call to action and an investment in Hawaiʻi’s future. “Both our families really impressed upon us the value of an education and how much that can help,” they said. “If we can help UH Hilo students stay in school and build a better life, then this gift has done its job.”

The Kruschel Endowment to Reduce Insecurity will begin providing awards to UH Hilo students in fall 2026.

For more information about supporting students at UH Hilo, visit UH Foundation’s website (https://www.uhfoundation.org/).