The news was quite literally buzzing with news about several HCJ events this month! What a wonderful time for our chapter as the hard work and dedication of our members were recognized by local television and radio stations.
For those who may not be familiar, HCJ is home to several signature projects such as the Healthy Baby Contest, Dragonboat Festival, and the Night in Chinatown to name a few. While in recent history we’ve partnered up with Chinatown808 to jointly plan these exciting family-friendly events, it still brings our chapter great pride and joy to see the fruits of our labor. This year’s Dragonboat Festival was a major highlight and milestone for HCJ, not only because of the unique land-based race style that the festival employed, but also the excitement from the community and local partners to bring back this long-awaited tradition. The Dragonboats are still in need of repair and maintenance, but it brings me hope that with our joint efforts we may once again return in force, marking another step towards normalcy since the pandemic began.
The upcoming Healthy Baby Contest is also a driving effort from HCJ to return back to normal and raise awareness by celebrating the health and wellbeing of our island keiki. We are more aware than ever before the value of life and good health, and how it truly takes a village to get through these difficult times. I was so happy to see that our annual contest is back in person with a virtual preliminary round (a competition aspect that was well-received last year), and an in-person final round that will be held at Windward Mall. A huge mahalo to VP Membership Madi Sim and her HBC Committee for the many hours of work you all put into this project despite the many changes and uncertainty lingering in the community.
Our monthly Pearlridge Cards and Collectibles Show was also recently featured on ESPN HNL, during which I had the amazing opportunity to share to the community about who we are, what we do, and how HCJ leverages the card show to promote business activities and support our local businesses. Many small and local sports vendors set up shop each second weekend of the month that draw many families to Pearlridge mall. If you have some free time on the weekend, check out our booth and chat with any of our tabling members about our upcoming events and how can get involved.
Just when I thought this year would wind down towards the fall, I am continuously reminded of the incredible energy the chapter has and the great many ideas that each of our members have to make Hawaii a better place. The HCJ is here to listen to your ideas and to provide you with organizational support for you to launch a project, event, or campaign in the community and pick up skills and connections in the process. As always, I am inspired by you to work just as hard to provide as much support as I can to your endeavors.