Hawaiian Airlines Foundation Announces Inaugural Grants

HONOLULU – August 25, 2014 – Three Hawai‘i nonprofit organizations have received a total of $100,000 as the first grantees of the newly-created Hawaiian Airlines Foundation. Funded by Hawaiian Airlines, the Foundation will provide single annual grants in three areas of focus: Educational programs that seek to improve student achievement in Hawai‘i, programs that perpetuate Hawaiian cultural knowledge and awareness, and programs that protect and preserve the ecology and ecosystems of the state.

“The Foundation allows Hawaiian Airlines to provide significant monetary support to programs that benefit our entire community,” said Ann Botticelli, senior vice president - corporate communications and public affairs for Hawaiian Airlines and president of the Hawaiian Airlines Foundation. “We chose to focus on areas that are also important to our longevity as a local company. Our schools provide our future workforce, our host culture helps us differentiate ourselves as Hawai‘i’s hometown airline, and our environment provides our state’s comparative advantage as a visitor destination.”

The Foundation recently received confirmation of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, allowing it to receive matching funds to build its endowment. The 2014-2015 grantees are:

·         Education ($50,000): Kualapu‘u School, Moloka‘i

Kualapu‘u is a Public Conversion Charter School serving English and Hawaiian Immersion students in grades pre-K to 6. Kualapu‘u School will use its $50,000 education grant to pilot the development, implementation and evaluation of a common-core based STEM curriculum and create a student support services program. Kualapu‘u School is one of three Public Conversion Charter Schools overseen by the nonprofit Ho‘okāko‘o Corporation, which is dedicated to reform and innovation in public education. 

·         Culture ($25,000): PA‘I Foundation, O‘ahu

PA‘I Foundation will use its $25,000 cultural perpetuation grant to stage the 2015 Maoli Arts Month, celebrating and promoting native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners. Organized in 2001, PA‘I Foundation’s mission is to preserve and perpetuate native Hawaiian cultural traditions for future generations.

·         Environment ($25,000): Papahana Kuaola, O‘ahu

Papahana Kuaola will dedicate its $25,000 environmental preservation grant to support a year-long internship program to restore native plant species in the ahupua‘a of He‘eia. Papahana Kuaola was founded to create quality educational programs focused on environmental restoration and fully integrated with Hawaiian knowledge in order to exemplify a lifestyle respectful of kanaka, ‘āina and Akua.

The application process for the Hawaiian Airlines Foundation will begin at the beginning of each calendar year and will be driven by recommendations from the Hawaiian Airlines workforce.  Employees will be invited to suggest worthy charities in Hawai’i in each of the three focus areas.  The Foundation board will then invite three organizations in each category to apply for grants, and will select a single grantee in each category. The applicants must have a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity status and must operate within the state of Hawai‘i.  

About Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian® has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 10 years (2004-2013) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and Zagat have all ranked Hawaiian the highest of all domestic airlines serving Hawai‘i.

Now in its 85th year of continuous service, Hawaiian is Hawai‘i’s biggest and longest-serving airline, as well as the largest provider of passenger air service from its primary visitor markets on the U.S. Mainland. Hawaiian offers non-stop service to Hawai‘i from more U.S. gateway cities (11) than any other airline, along with service from Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides approximately 160 jet flights daily between the Hawaiian Islands, with a total of more than 200 daily flights system-wide.

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com.