Curling slides into the American consciousness every four years as a televised sport in the Winter Olympics.

But for American Savings Bank, the sport that resembles shuffle board on ice has become an annual event that benefits nonprofits in Hawaii.

In one of the more unusual fundraisers for tropical Hawaii, 120 would-be curlers — along with two Olympians — will take to the ice today at the Ice Palace across from Aloha Stadium to raise money for the Ka Pa‘alana Homeless Family Education Program. The program serves homeless and at-risk families on the Leeward Coast of Oahu by helping them become more self-sufficient and preparing children for success in the classroom.

American Savings CEO Rich Wacker said support for the annual event has snowballed since the idea was conceived while he and his wife were having dinner in late 2012 with entrepreneur Chris Dey, former president of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, retired Goldman Sachs partner Peter Tomozawa and their wives.

“We thought it would be unique, a lot of fun and something to which a lot of people had no exposure, and that it might be nice to get them to spend time with people from the organizations we are supporting and to get to know the organizations. Besides, we didn’t need just another chicken dinner,” said Wacker, who plans to test his curling skills at today’s sold-out, invitation-only event.

American Savings, which last year delivered more than 2,000 volunteer hours and more than $1 million of charitable and community development contributions, said its goal is to raise more than $70,000 for this year’s beneficiary. All of the proceeds will go to the Ka Pa‘alana Homeless Family Education Program.

The amount will be similar to what was raised in the first two years of the curling event, when American Savings gave $70,000 to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children in 2013 and donated $66,000 to American Cancer Society, Hope Lodge Hawaii in 2014.

American Savings is planning two events today.

A CLINIC will be held in the morning that includes students from Farrington High School, one of the institution’s Bank for Education Schools, as well as members of the nonprofit Partners In Development’s Ke Kama Pono Safe House Program.

In the afternoon and evening, 20 six-member teams that primarily represent local companies will compete in the fundraiser. The cost per team ranges from $5,000 to $7,000.

On Wednesday, the bank held a special curling event for its employees.

American Savings, the state’s third-largest bank, committed in 2013 to having an annual curling fundraiser by investing about $20,000 in equipment, including the curling stones. The bank also is underwriting the cost to bring the Olympians, which includes an annual donation to USA Curling in the range of $25,000.

Olympic curlers Shawn Rojeski and Jessica Schultz got the call this year to come to Hawaii. Rojeski won a bronze medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Schultz finished eighth in those Winter Games and 10th in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Curlers slide stones across the ice toward a target area segmented into four rings, called the house. Points are scored for the stones resting closest to the center of the house. Two sweepers with brooms direct the path of the stone as it slides down the ice.

Rojeski, 43, expects his first trip to Hawaii to be memorable.

“It’s definitely the warmest spot I’ll be able to curl at,” said Rojeski, who lives in Chisholm, Minn.

Rojeski said popularity of the sport, which dates from the early 1500s in Scotland, has grown since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“The sport has gone crazy since then,” said Rojeski, who became interested in curling by watching his parents play when he was young. “Right now we believe there are more than 160 curling clubs across the U.S. and spread across 40 states. It just keeps growing and growing. The last couple of Olympiads it’s been referred to as having the biggest viewership for any of the sports at the Winter Olympics. So we’re really excited to have this following that we’ve had lately.”

HAWAII ALSO has a curling club — sort of.

“It basically consists of people who have participated in our fundraisers,” Wacker said. “We’ve issued them membership cards but there’s no active league at this point. We now have regular club members who have participated year after year and have been wonderfully loyal supporters of the different beneficiaries that we’ve helped.”

American Savings spokesman Jayson Harper said that when the bank approached USA Curling about getting the association involved with the fundraiser, “they were stunned to know that an ice skating rink existed in Hawaii.”

But Wacker thought the idea of a curling fundraiser was unusual enough for the bank to pull it off.

“You remember the movie, ‘Cool Runnings,’ about the Jamaican bobsled team (in the 1988 Olympics)?” Wacker asked. “We thought it would have a little bit of a cache like that and just be unique enough to make people want to participate.”