Community

Check out several business and industry stories from around the Big Island and Hawaiʻi.

Kauaʻi native Kaina Makua portrays Kamehameha I in the Apple TV+ series and is co-founder and executive director of West Kauaʻi nonprofit and social enterprise Kumano I Ke Ala, where he leads initiatives dedicated to restoring ancestral relationships to ʻāina through education, food systems revitalization and Hawaiian language immersion.

Registration is available for the first 40 middle school girls from Hawai‘i Island to attend the free full-day program at Waiākea High School in Hilo that encourages fourth- to eighth-grade girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum and fields.

More than 1,000 toys were donated and subsequently distributed to The Salvation Army and Boys & Girls Club to help ensure 1,000 keiki throughout West Hawaiʻi received holiday gifts this Christmas season.

The deadline to apply is 4:30 p.m. Jan. 23; final determinations about which nonprofit organizations will receive funding will be made as Council on Revenue forecasts in January and March are published.

The new number brings multiple state divisions onto a unified call center platform, improving call routing, case tracking and consumer support.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of English’s choice is meant to highlight the enduring value of human-centered thinking, creativity and interpretation in an age of rapidly growing artificial intelligence.

Newly created office serves Hawaiʻi Island’s west and north coasts, and a wide range of jobs are available, such as office assistants and trade workers, with monthly salaries between about $3,500 to $6,700, plus state benefits.

The session of Ku‘ikahi Mediation Center’s “Finding Solutions, Growing Peace” Brown Bag Lunch Series promises a lively and interactive discussion demonstrating how time-tested procedures foster structure, efficiency and dignity during meetings that matter.

Maui wellness coach Carl Powell will discuss the Six Pillars of Brain Health. He will teach participants how to engage their brain and explain AARP’s Staying Sharp website during the January webinar.

After ancestral bones were found at the site of a new mailbox park being developed in Hawaiian Paradise Park, there has been ongoing, contentious debate between community members on whether the project should continue in the same location.

Hawaiʻi Police Department donated $8,200 and 2,300 pounds of food to the Hawaiʻi Island Food Basket after a successful Fill a Cruiser food drive this holiday season.

In the wake of the tragic Cristmas Eve accident, Hawaiʻi lost an esteemed emergency physician, Dr. Judy Fitzgerald, who left an indelible mark on patients and colleagues across the island.

Each of the panel members bring deep experience in water resource management, ethics, agriculture and community development to critical areas of state service.

Any unused Hawaiʻi Emergency Food Assistance Program balance cannot be carried over or reissued in 2026 and will be expunged at the end of the year.

The fundraising campaign helps to sustain youth programs on Hawaiʻi Island heading into the new year.

Now that the most wonderful day of the year and all the festivities that go with it are finally winding down, it’s time to change gears and look ahead at parties for New Year’s. Be sure to check out this week’s holiday happenings!

Holiday wishes were fulfilled for a total of 16,435 youth and seniors throughout The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division, but the need is growing and continues beyond the holidays; consider setting up your own Virtual Red Kettle campaign before the end of the year to help.

Duo from Big Island shot a 6-under-par total score of 66 on Dec. 22 at Wailuā Golf Course in Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi, to top the field and clinch their return to the spring championship, which will be hosted in May 2026 at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.; will be one of 128 teams competing in championship.

Tree-cycling offered starting Dec. 28 at several recycling and transfer stations around the island for Christmas and holiday trees as well as kadomatsu decorations.