Maui Cultural Lands to Benefit From Newly Established Ama OluKai Foundation

FIle photo by Wendy Osher.

By Maui Now Staff

A new Hawaiʻi-based non-profit organization, the Ama OluaKai Foundation, is now operating with a focus on preserving, protecting and celebrating Hawaiʻi’s cultural heritage and aloha spirit.

In an announcement today, organization representatives said the foundation will provide semi-annual donations to six partner beneficiaries including: the Polynesian Voyaging Society; Hawaiian Lifeguard Association; Maui Cultural Lands; ʻImiloa Astronomy Center; Na Kalai Waʻa; and Nā Kama Kai.

Maui Cultural Lands is a Maui-based non-profit, grassroots land trust organization whose mission is to stabilize, protect and restore Hawaiian cultural resources. MCL is one of the few land trust organizations on Maui targeting Hawaiian cultural lands along the coast and inland areas.

According to the organization website, the vision of the MCL is to restore what is known as the Honokōwai Valley to a state of balance, so that it can serve as a “place to learn, to find peace and to honor those who have come before us.”

The Ama OluKai Foundation supports programs that focus on educating and serving Hawaiʻi’s communities by partnering with organizations that: focus on developing quality communities and individuals in Hawaiʻi; preserve Hawaii’s rich traditions and historical lessons, with emphasis on the arts, sciences, language, customs, morals, physical activities and educational outreach; and perpetuate the aloha spirit.

“Being ‘pono’ is important to OluKai,” said Dan McInerny, Executive Director of Ama OluKai Foundation in a press release announcement. “Giving back to the community has always been a core value of OluKai. The Ama OluKai Foundation is a more formal way of spreading goodness, morality, excellence and prosperity. We take great pride in this responsibility as we honor and preserve the cultural history of Hawaii while celebrating its aloha spirit.”

Representatives from each beneficiary organization were honored during the 2015 OluKai Hoʻolauleʻa this past weekend on Maui’s North Shore, which saw more than 600 ocean paddlers participate in the famous Maliko Downwind Run.

An estimated 100 individuals participated in the Ama OluKai Foundation‘s Giveback Day on Monday, May 4, lending a hand to the Waiheʻe Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge project on Maui.