Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 3, 1 March 2015 — A day for Duke [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A day for Duke

The Duke Kahanamoku Challenge will mark 30 years when the fun-in-the-sun event takes plaee on Sunday, March 15 at the Duke Kahanamoku Beach and Lagoon at the Hihon Hawaiian Village. In a nod to the milestone gathering, members from the Kahanamoku family will be honored. In a fitting celebration of the islands' most famous waterman and ambassador of aloha, the event features outrigger eanoe racing, ancient Hawaiian makahiki games and entertainment, including the Royal Hawaiian Band, Hālau Hula 'O Nawahine, The Lyman 'Ohana, Te Vai Ura Nui, Waipuna, Streetlight Cadence and the Shining Star Band. Highlights of the free event are: 9 a.m. weleome and blessing featuring music, hula and a doublehulled eanoe procession; 10 a.m. sporting races, including eanoe racing, stand-up paddling and makahiki games on the heaeh, as well as a marketplace, food booths on the great lawn and top Hawaiian entertainment on the great lawn stage. The day wraps with an awards presentation at 2 p.m. The long-running event is a fundraiser for the Waiklkl Community Center, a nonprofit that's been serving those who live, work and visit Waikīkī since 1978. According to the center, "Eaeh year more than 20,000 people participate in 170,000 hours of programs and services at WCC's 46,000-square-foot campus situated

between 'Ohua and Paoakalani avenues. Its programs and services include early childhood education, emergency food, heahh and case management services for the homeless, poor and the elderly; and activities that promote heahh, wellbeing andlifelong learning. Heahh, educational and social services also are provided on campus by the center's strategic partners that include the Waikīkī Heahh, Waikīkī Beach Chaplaincy and United Self Help." Caroline Hayashi, Waikīkī Community Center executive director, said the Duke Kahanamoku Challenge isn't the center's biggest fundraiser of the year (that honor goes to a September Nā Mea Makamae o Waikīkī dinner at the Hihon), but the Challenge's strength is generating awareness of the center and its programs. Hayashi is grateful to businesses that have been "very generous in supporting us." "We're really thankful for that," she said, adding, events like this help the community to understand what they're supporting. The center has attracted area employees who volunteer at the center and some businesses volunteer there on a regular basis, she said. "Support is more than just money," Hayashi says. Those who help paint a room "are helping us build a community." "We can't do it by ourselves," she added. "We have all these nonprofits (housed on our site). We need everybody to help take care of the community." -Lisa Asato ■

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Canoe races at the Duke Kahanamoku Challenge test the skills of paddlers. - Courtesy photo