Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2012 — NEW CIVIC CLUBS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NEW CIVIC CLUBS

Six new Hawaiian civic clubs, all from Midwestern states, sprang to join the Mainland Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs this year. The new clubs are: Kuhina Nui Ka'ahumanu HCC, of Elmwood Park, Illinois; Ke Ali'i William Charles Lunalilo Hawaiian Civic Club, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Ke Ali'i Keōpūolani Hawaiian Civic Club, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Ke Ali'i Bernice Pauahi Pākl Hawaiian Civic Club of Kansas City, Missouri; Ke Ali'i Emalani Kaleleonalani HCC of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Ke Ali'i David La'amea Kalākaua HCC of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They weren't the only ones either, Reseda, California, also gave birth to a new club, Kaleleonalani HCC, bringing the total to five Hawaiian civic clubs haling from the Golden State. But what generated this tsunami on the prairie?

Chalk it up to the Midwestern work ethic, the limitless possibilities of the Information Age and two landlocked Hawaiians, Luana Ahina Johnson and Kawika Kolomona Kamakeeaina,

whose passion and organizational talent combined to get the six new clubs up and running in a /

few short months. Johnson, pelekikena of Ke Ali'i Emmalani Kaleleonalani HCC, attributes their organizational accomplishment to the power of the Internet and social networking, including Midwest Hawaiian News, an online newspaper Johnson and Kaleleonalani launched in 2009. The newspaper became a cultural touchstone for the Native Hawaiians and expats of the region. An information systems analyst by trade, Johnson says her own club evolved from a Hawaiian social club she organized with two friends about 12 years ago and includes members from North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. Using what she learned in that process, Johnson developed a template for navigating the requirements for starting new clubs. At the same time, Kamakeeaina used his know-how to develop the new club's websites. Now Johnson is determined to "pay it forward" and help even more Hawaiian civic clubs organize. She's already in touch with four groups in the nation's heartland who want to form clubs. Bringing Hawaiians together, she says, is the main point. X "Onee thev connect."

Johnson says, "you watch them blossom and grow." ■

Malia Lani Chow, second from right, pelekikena of the newly chartered Ke Ali'i David La'amea Kalākaua Hawaiian Civic Club, of Wisconsin, poses with fellow club members and A0HCC Pelekikena Soulee Stroud.

/ A0HCC Pelekikena Soulee Stroud poses with Amy Kamakeeaina-Bird, pelekikena of the newly chartered Ke / Ali'i Bernice Pauahi Pākī Hawaiian I Civic Club, of Kansas City, Missouri. ! \ \ \