Kevin Donnelly, a hospitality teacher at Kapiolani Community College, rose early Saturday to volunteer as a driver at the annual Visitor Industry Charity Walk — an event that he has been participating in since its inception in 1978.

“I’ve been involved in every one somehow. In the beginning I ran it. It was 18 miles (back then). Then I went to walk it, usually with a gang of people,” he said. “I was working at Royal Hawaiian Hotel and my general manager ‘voluntold’ me to be one of the drivers. I loved it, so I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Donnelly, who spent the day transporting walkers, volunteers and event organizers, was one of about 2,500 participants and 500 volunteers at the Hawai‘i Lodging &Tourism Association’s annual event. Over the past 45 years, it has raised over $47 million including Saturday’s total, which topped $2 million.

Mufi Hannemann, HLTA president and CEO, said Saturday’s fundraising total included walks on Oahu, Maui and Kauai. He said donations will rise once Hawaii island holds its walk on May 11. Hannemann said that last year, the walk raised over $2.7 million, and he expects that this year’s event could top that as more donations are received.

“My favorite story from today was the nonprofit groups that came up to me and said, ‘Thank you for making this possible,’” Hannemann said. “They said, ‘We were going to go out of business and last year your charity walk saved us,’ and this year they are hoping for the same results as last year.”

So many walkers participated in the 5.25 walk that Helene “Sam” Shenkus, vice president and director of marketing for the Royal Hawaiian Center, said the center’s checkpoint ran out of complimentary bacon from Wolfgang’s Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener.

But she said walkers enjoyed stopping by the center’s Instagrammable floral arches as they entered the the Royal Grove, which added a DJ to the outdoor gathering space for the walk.

“We try to create a checkpoint that is visually beautiful and fun,” Shenkus said. “It’s a team effort with our merchants and our volunteers that all come together to create a memorable checkpoint for the thousands of walkers.”

Hannemann said it was gratifying to see all of the lodging and tourism general managers at the event.

“They aren’t just leaving it to their employees to do the charity walk,” he said. “I saw a lot of them out there this year serving food, setting up, cleaning, cooking and whatever it took. They are leading by example.”

Tom Calame, area general manager for Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts, who was greeting walkers at a Kyo-ya checkpoint, said, “We go all year with charity walk, we allow people to sign up; even if they can’t walk they can still donate. We have targets that we set every year. Every year, we meet the target.”

Calame said Kyo-ya’s cultural director Thelma Kehaulani Kam played a major role in Kyo-ya’s charity walk results.

Kam said, “It is a great way for us to really showcase to our community the fact that community is so important, and our associates are all in our community. It’s our goal to support them, putting them first in everything that we do.”

James Donnelly, mission impact advisor for Make-A-Wish Hawaii, was handing out cookies and swag at the walk as a thank you to walkers for supporting the nonprofit. The organization has 90 children, between the ages of 2 and 18 with critical illnesses, on a waiting list for a life-changing wish.

Donnelly said the walk provides a chance for Make-A-Wish Hawaii families and their supporters to raise money for the nonprofit, to thank donors and to feel the community’s love. Nonprofits that participate in the event get all the money they raise and can apply for grants to receive additional funding.

“We are out here to say thank you to everybody that supports our nonprofit,” he said. “It’s also a chance for our families to learn that there are a lot of other people that care. We love these events where it’s kids and adults and community groups getting together to support children who are in a dark place. It helps with their healing to know that they are not alone.”

Isabel Preciado is a freshmen at James Campbell High School who is participating in the workforce development program ClimbHI and shadowed reporter Allison Schaefers on this assignment.