MAUI
Kipuni Aloha no Maui Vigil
On Friday, September 1, OUTRIGGER on all 4 Hawai‘i islands participated in the Kipuni Aloha no Maui Vigil, a time of reflection and thoughts of support, healing and recovery for Maui.
Our Maui ‘ohana gathered at OUTRIGGER Kā‘anapali Beach Resort during their Aloha Friday ceremony.
For Waikīkī hosts, a gathering was held at Waikiki Beach Walk. Kawika Kahiapo and Opua Kia led those in attendance in honoring Maui and sending our collective Aloha.
An Oli was given in honor of Maui at OUTRIGGER Kona Resort & Spa as hosts and guests gathered at Pa‘akai Point. Everyone was encouraged to wear pink (Maui’s color) and guava juice was served.
Kiahuna Plantation Resort Kauai by OUTRIGGER joined other communities across Hawai‘i and the world in a moment of silence to remember and honor those who were lost in the recent Maui wildfires and their families and loved ones. Thoughts of love and hope for a cleansing and healing of the land were on the minds of all hosts.
OUTRIGGER Kaua‘i Beach Resort & Spa managers gathered at 6 a.m. for a vigil centered on emotional and spiritual healing rooted in traditional Native Hawaiian practices and including leaders from diverse faiths. Our very own, Robert Ancheta led the day with a special Sunrise Blessing on the Ocean Lawn. Vicki Valenciano’s nephew, Isaac “Maluhia” Castillo, performed a beautiful song dedicated to Maui.
Royal Sea Cliff Kona by OUTRIGGER hosts started their September “First Friday” stand-up with a moment of silence and reflection joining with the statewide vigil.
OHANA Waikiki East by OUTRIGGER (OEH)
OEH Fundraiser for Our Maui Hosts
OEH held a fundraiser to benefit our Maui hosts on August 25 selling burgers, hot dogs, lihing lollipops, cookies and beverages and raising an impressive $1,800!
Royal Sea Cliff Kona by OUTRIGGER (RSC)
Maui Benefit Bake Sale
BY CYNDE VANNATTA — On August 24, OUTRIGGER Royal Sea Cliff teamed up with our resort partner, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, to host a Maui Benefit Bake Sale. While our hearts were heavy — the guests, hosts and owners enjoyed a special morning of live Hawaiian music and delicious offerings made by our resort teams to support those affected by the fire on Maui.
Guests and owners were treated to a wide selection of sweet regional dishes from malasadas, cascaron, chantilly cupcakes, ube sapin sapin, cookies, sweet breads and more. We also had a savory side of musabi, sushi, pancit, pork lumpia and spinach ricotta rolls.
In three hours, over $1,000 was raised to support families on Maui. The proceeds will be divided between the OUTRIGGERCares Maui Fund, the Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund and The Red Cross.
Kiahuna Plantation Resort by OUTRIGGER (KPR)
BY DONNA KING — The KPR hosts know how hard the teachers in our schools work to take care of our keiki, often spending their own money to purchase classroom supplies for kids who are not able to afford them. We decided to help our community by Adopting a Classroom. All hosts were invited to submit their child’s name and a drawing was held to determine which child’s classroom would be the recipient. Hosts were asked to donate school supplies and the lucky teacher received school supplies, facial tissue, paper towels, hand sanitizer and a mahalo gift card for her hard work teaching our keiki. The lucky winner was Danica Oyama who is the niece of front desk agent Jen Tabalan. Danica is in the third grade at Kekaha Elementary School. The teacher is Ms. Caitlyn Towner.
OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort (FOR)
Host Cone-Making and Coral Planting
BY PONIPATE BOTITU — On August 14, FOR hosts volunteered to be part of a cone-making and coral-planting activity organized by the environment officer and activities team. Hosts made over 200 cones in preparation for upcoming coral-planting projects and planted over 100 cones on a coral nursery table. The coral nursery table was brought close to the shore where the team zip-tied the cones to the mesh and planted coral fragments into the cones.
WWF-Pacific Volunteers Plant Coral at FOR
BY PONIPATE BOTITU — Over 70 volunteers from World Wildlife Fund-South Pacific traveled from Suva to the OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort to participate in our coral-planting program as part of their conservation activity for the year. The day started with a fish-house-making competition with unique as well as structurally stable fish houses created. After the fish-house activity, it was onto cone making with the volunteers making over 100 cones. In the afternoon, we carried out the coral-planting activity. Two nursery tables were brought to shore and then over 200 cones were zip-tied to the table nursery and sunk at our active coral-planting site. We also sunk six fish houses that were made earlier for the event. The volunteers commented on how much fun they had and the new knowledge they gained from the experience.
FOR Assists Local School Excursion
BY PONIPATE BOTITU — Team housekeeping and laundry took on an initiative on August 25 to assist the small country school of Matokana District with transportation costs for a Suva school excursion. The team organized a Kava Barrel night, which was highly attended by OUTRIGGER hosts, and raised an impressive $2,020 which was then delivered to the school head teacher to help with the students’ traveling costs.
OUTRIGGER Maldives Maafushivaru Resort (MAM)
World Whale Shark Day
BY DANIELLE STANLEY — Held August 30 on Lonobu Island, the significance of this day is to celebrate whale sharks and raise awareness around the importance of these gentle giants in our marine ecosystems. This event gives us the opportunity to highlight the dwindling whale shark populations and to encourage conservation efforts to best protect them.
Educating and inspiring younger generations is one of the most powerful tools we can use to play our role in preserving it for future generations.
We are thrilled to have hosted the students from Maamigili school, as the whale shark island representatives in our Atoll, to spend an afternoon full of fun activities and an opportunity to better understand these mysterious creatures.
I held an educational talk with a Q&A session on everything whale sharks. The aim of this was to educate and also test the whale shark knowledge of students. Everything from the biology, ecology and general facts about the whale shark inhabitance in the Maldives.
We carefully curated an engaging activity for the students to learn how plastics affect marine filter-feeding animals, such as the whale sharks. This brought the students closer to the issue of plastic waste while allowing space for creativity in making art.
The overall objective of this event was to inspire positive change in the students — whether it may be for environmental, political or creative perspectives for the future health of our oceans and for the locals below the surface — whale sharks. This shows the students that they can be responsible for creating change to avoid environmental debt in the future.
