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COURTESY BROOK GRAMANN
Save Kailua Fireworks! has donation boxes at local businesses.
The grassroots group Save Kailua Fireworks! still needs about $17,000 to put on a pyrotechnics show on the Fourth of July, with less than a week to go.
As of the weekend, the group had raised about $33,000 toward their $50,000 goal.
Save Kailua Fireworks! volunteers last year were able to raise enough money from the community at the last minute to put on a 12- to 14-minute fireworks show after the Kailua Chamber of Commerce, which had organized the celebration in the past, pulled out of the annual event.
Brook Gramann, who is spearheading the fundraising drive, said she will announce the status of the fireworks show Thursday.
A total of about $620 was found in three of the 24 donation boxes that were placed with merchants all over Kailua, she said.
"It was really amazing," Gramann said. She has yet to check the remaining 21 boxes, but said she has a good feeling about them.
The group also has seen contributions from Target and Castle Medical Center and numerous Kailua businesses. The group will continue to seek donations from Kailua merchants who have not yet pledged their support.
As a business owner herself, Gramann said she feels that keeping the show alive is a way of giving back to the customers who have supported them .
"We have every confidence that we’re going to make it," she said, noting that checks have been coming in the mail every day and that supporters are also donating online.
However, if Gramann is proved wrong, she said, the checks would be returned and the cash would be saved to put on a fireworks show next year.
Three weeks ago, the group held an event at Kailua Shopping Center offering free shave ice to the community to gain awareness for their fundraiser and raised $700 from it.
Gramann said, if necessary, they may host another fundraiser as a final push. To donate, visit www.kailuafireworks.com.
