The Estate of Denise B. Evans has given $1.5 million to both the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and the UH-Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.
The Denise B. Evans Fund for Oceanographic Research provides fellowships for graduate students conducting oceanographic research and is administered by the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.
The first fellowships have gone to Yoshimi Rii and Alice Colman. Rii received a two-year award and Colman a one-year award. Each receives $28,000 per year.
Brian Taylor, dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said the fellowships will be offered "in perpetuity," to promote work in many disciplines — "from microbes to whales, from the seafloor to the air-sea interface, from ocean acidification to coral reefs, and from sea level rise to ocean engineering."
At the cancer center, director Michele Carbone said Evans’ gift "gives us additional resources to take timely advantage of opportunities that arise."
Other grants recently awarded:
» The HMSA Foundation has awarded $150,000 to Aloha Medical Mission to support operations, local programs and outreach.
The foundation for several years has supported the mission’s dental clinic at Palama Settlement in Honolulu, which serves hundreds of needy patients each month. It also provides restorative dental services for women who are former prison inmates or survivors of domestic abuse.
» Seagull Schools has received $30,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and $15,000 from the McInerny Foundation to provide financial aid to low-income families.
Seagull Schools operates seven preschools on Oahu, including the Early Education Center at the Honolulu Municipal Complex.
» The Fairmont Kea Lani resort in Wailea, Maui, and its parent company gave $10,000 to the Institute of Hawaiian Music at University of Hawaii Maui College.
The $10,000 award is part of an ongoing partnership between the institute and hotel, which has staged concerts and fundraising efforts.
"When Maui’s business community partners with our programs, it adds an important dimension to learning by letting students get hands-on in the ultimate classroom: the real world," said Maui College Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto.
» Landscape products company Geobunga donated more than $5,000 in products and installation services to the Friends of Lyon Arboretum. The gift includes a 4-foot-long lava stone bench, several large ceramic pots, nearly 300 square feet of pavers and installation services.
» Monsanto Maui employees and community members donated 87 pints of blood and $1,750 to the Blood Bank of Hawaii at a blood drive Feb. 21 at Kihei Community Center.
Of the donors, 38 did so for the first time, the blood bank said.
"We’re very grateful to all the employees and residents who took the time out of their busy day to participate," said event coordinator Ashley Lindsay of Monsanto Hawaii.
To schedule a blood donation, call 845-9966 or go to www.bbh.org.
