The Hawaii Hotel and Lodging Association’s yearly Visitor Industry Charity Walk, together with the Hawaii for Hawaii concert, raised $2.2 million following the culmination on Oahu last weekend of the statewide event.
Sponsored by the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, along with its lodging and travel partners, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and SummitMedia LLC, the annual walk is one of the largest fundraisers in the state, providing an opportunity for Hawaii’s visitor industry to give back to its local communities. Since its inception in 1978, walkers have raised more than $28 million for Hawaii charities.
"Through the collective efforts of the people and friends of Hawaii’s visitor industry, more than 200 charities statewide will benefit tremendously from funds raised at recent HLTA benefit events," said Ben Rafter, this year’s Charity Walk chairman. "We are very proud of the deep aloha spirit shown in supporting our local community."
A total of 11,277 walkers on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai and Hawaii island participated in the fundraiser.
As much as $800,000 of the funds came from the 2,285 walkers on Maui, who for the fifth year in a row raised the walk’s largest amount. Some 5,300 walkers on Oahu raised $440,000. About 2,220 Kauai walkers raised $230,000, and 1,200 walkers on Hawaii island raised $300,000. There were 172 walkers on Lanai, who raised $23,483, and another 100 on Molokai, who raised $15,356.
The Hawaii for Hawaii concert, which was held at Hilton Hawaiian Village on May 9 to raise money for Waikiki’s homeless residents, also raised $400,000.
"We are so thankful for the generous kokua of the participants, volunteers and organizations that helped rally for this year’s walk," said George Szigeti, president of the HLTA. "The tourism community takes great pride in putting together a fun and successful charity walk, so we’re pleased that hundreds of charities will get the support that they need to serve people across the state."
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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story reported that 1,200 walkers on Hawaii island raised $137,000.
