Mahalo for supporting the Hawaii for Hawaii benefit concert!

Much appreciation to everyone for supporting Hawaii for Hawaii and our visitor industry's efforts to reduce homelessness on Oahu! The concert and live telethon was a great success. Together, we helped raise nearly $750,000 that evening. 
 
A huge mahalo goes out to the generous HLTA members who sponsored tables for the concert- some of them repeaters from the '15 Hawaii for Hawaii concert and others for the first time. We'd also like to express  our gratitude  to the many HLTA  members who donated in person, online and over the phone during the live telethon. For instance, WIA's Rick Egged walked into our live telethon area and made a donation on the spot. Howard Higa of the Cab was so moved that he phoned in from home asked for me and contributed $3,000. New HLTA member and developer Stanford Carr did yeoman work by volunteering his time on the phone lines to the end and successfully challenged his business colleagues to donate to a great cause. And then there is the sterling example of hospitality consultant Drake Beil, who has made maximum contributions to the last two Hawaii for Hawaii fundraisers for homelessness.

Mahalo also to Rick Blangiardi and his Hawaii News Now staff for an exceptional job of promoting and televising the event to a state wide audience. No question they raised the awareness of the need for all of us to be part of the solution and we reaped tremendous results through the live telethon.
Finally kudos to HLTA members, who joined me and Karen by serving on the Hawaii for Hawaii Board to help Jerry, Diane Kadomoto, Debi Bishop, Cynthia Rankin, Lora Gallagher and the rest of the Hilton ohana with this fantastic event:
 
Harris Chan, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Matt Bailey, Aqua-Aston Hospitality 
Barry Wallace, formerly with Outrigger Hotels 
Chris Tatum, Marriott International
David Nadelman, Hyatt Regency Waikiki
Henry Perez, Courtyard by Marriott Waikiki Beach
Kelly Hoen, The MODERN Honolulu
 
In closing, we humbly ask for your continued support on our fall Aloha United Way campaign. If you have any questions, please contact AUW's VP of fundraising and major gifts, Emily Mendez- Bryant, at 808-543-2204 or at emily@auw.org.  I know our HLTA/AUW co-chairs Kelly Hoen and Teri Orton would appreciate that very much. 

Mahalo, 
Mufi ​