Hilo Bay Rotary Club Newsletter for the week of December 14, 2025
Tim Hansen, President
Rotary Theme for the month is Disease Prevention & Treatment
From the meeting of December 10, 2025:
President Hansen convened the meeting at 7:02 am.
Pledge of Allegiance: Patrick Bodell led us in the Pledge.
Inspiration: Tim Hansen offered the following as Jessica Thompson was absent: “Always be there.”
Guests: None but President Tim acknowledged the presence of long time club member Irene Nagao.
Birthdays: Pete Mueller, Marcia Sakai
Anniversaries: None
Inductions: None
Announcements:
1. President Tim gave a big mahalo to the Club’s response to the Salvation Army’s Angel tree project. JoB expressed her thanks. This is happiness, joy, hope and love. The toys will be given to the Salvation Army the next day at 10 am. Be there for the photo op. There will be bell ringing at KTA on Friday between 4 and 6 pm. Anita announced that there would be a photo in the paper on Dec. 21.
2. President Tim and Rotarian Virginia reported on the literacy project. The readers, Alan Okinaka, Tim Hansen, Mary Begier, Anita Cunningham, Virginia and Richard Cunningham have read to two groups of elementary students and will continue to read in January. More volunteers are needed for readers and the Birthday Books project. See Virginia to volunteer.
3. The holiday party is on 12/20 in the lobby of the Bank of Hawaii from 5 pm to 8 pm. We are expecting 5 children to attend who will receive gift bags and have their own activities. If you haven’t signed up or have questions, please contact Anita Cunningham or Jan Haraguichi-Abundo.
4. President Tim reminded the Club that Steve Jacunski’s Celebration of Life is on 12/28 at the big pavilion in Wailoa State Park.
Happy Dollars:
$20-Virginia Juettner - For the literacy group and this month’s Rotary magazine on Happiness
$20 - John Gapp - happy about trip to the Panama Canal Feb. 15, 2026
$5 - Tim Hansen - Happy to pass John Gapp at the Panama Canal
$5 – Alan Okinaka visited Kilauea Lodge in Volcano Village and admired the fireplace with plaques of visiting clubs from all over the world.
Guest Speaker:
Our speakers were from the St. Joseph’s Interact Club. They were Ethan Fisher, Miya Rubio, Hilinai Faumuina, Nicolas Rojas and Treysyn Carvalho. President Tim was presented with a binder of club banners that RCHB received from international visitors. Besides mounting the banners, they had to repair some of them before they could be mounted.
The presentation was on this year’s MEDIC project. Due to a technical issue at the meeting, the students pivoted quickly and made it an oral presentation. (You should have received an email with their Power Point presentation.) Utilizing David de Luz’s donation, they decided to expand the project to 120 medic packs which include first aid supplies along with personal and inspiration items. The larger project necessitated some help and it came from the 3rd grade. These young students were enthusiastic to help. With supervision from the Interact members, they folded origami cranes, assembled and distributed 100 medic kits at the Hope Services Thanksgiving luncheon. The remaining 20 medic kits were donated to Catholic Services for distribution to the homeless community in Pahoa.
Door Prize Winner: Mary Begier
4 Way Test:
Meeting invocations and raffle responsibilities for December and January December 17 is Art Taniguchi January 7 is Mike Carroll January 14 is Patrick Bodell January 21 is Sandra Wagner-Wright January 28 is Anita Cunningham Remember we have an obligation to provide the door prize twice a year. Lorraine’s calendar is looking very empty starting in February.