The President’s Volunteer Service Award has been presented to James Taylor, Pearl Harbor survivor liaison for Navy Region Hawaii and a retired Navy command master chief. Taylor has been responsible for planning, overseeing and conducting approximately 250 burial honors for Pearl Harbor survivors, and has donated more than 3,000 hours of his time to the Navy the past two years. The awards, presented by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, were established in 2003 to recognize the contributions volunteers make in their communities and encourage more people to serve.

The Hawaii State Chapter of the American Red Cross was awarded a $22,500 grant from Hawaiian Electric Co., Hawaii Electric Light Co. and Maui Electric Co. to support disaster preparedness and response efforts.

The American Cancer Society 2010 Harold P. Freeman Service Award recognized the Queen’s Cancer Center’s Oncology Research Program and Molokai General Hospital for their leadership in serving medically underserved populations.

Queen’s was named for its effort to increase the representation of native Hawaiians, Pacific islanders and Filipinos in clinical trials, who are among ethnic minorities who suffer from higher rates of cancer incidence and mortality.

Molokai Hospital was honored for efforts to reduce cancer care disparities and increase early detection of cancer for native Hawaiians, who have lower survival rates than the general population.