PHILANTHROPY
:
It’s All AboutYOU Creating Change in Hawai‘i Nei
It seems Dr. David McEwan has always had the ability to see what could be and the determination to make it so. When he was only eight years old, McEwan knew he wanted to be a physician. His goal was reached and he eventually moved to Honolulu and began his practice of family medicine.
It wasn’t long before his life’s work started to mirror that of his spiritual guide. “Father Damien’s commitment to help an ostracized group of people with a disease that was not understood has always served as an inspiration to me,” noted
David McEwan, M.D.
McEwan, who, in 1980, had patients when it was legalized in Hawai‘i with early symptoms of the HIV on December 2, 2013. McEwan infection. Feeling he needed to also started working to create the be proactive and stand up for Hawai‘i LGBT Legacy Foundation, the unempowered, Dr. McEwan which eight years later now hosts cofounded Hawai‘i’s first AIDS an LGBT Center in Waik-lk-l that organization, The Life supports long-term Foundation, in the 80s; projects involving he spent the next 10 scholarships, youth “Hawai‘i years volunteering homelessness, and tirelessly and has never assisted living for elders. Community stopped since. Foundation McEwan’s motivation amplifies my In the 90s, he to help previously ability to help “unacceptable” causes immersed himself in people.” advocating for same brought him to the sex marriage—a battle Hawai‘i Community Dr. David McEwan that was finally won Foundation (HCF)
> Did you know: In recognition of LGBT Pride Month in June, Hawai‘i Community Foundation and Hawai‘i LGBT Foundation are partnering to celebrate philanthropy in the LGBT community.
Learn how it’s about y ou at HawaiiCommunity F oundation.o r g
where, he said, “I can amplify my ability to help people.” From the Donor Advised Fund he set up at HCF, he gives to a range of LGBT nonprofits without having to deal with the paperwork. “HCF is a bureaucracy-free experience!” Now retired after 43 years of practicing medicine, David McEwan is as busy as ever, rallying others to create change: “At a moment in time when great progress has been born out of great suffering, there is still a lot to do.”