PHILANTHROPY
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It’s All AboutYOU Local Leaders Making Hawai‘i Island a Better Place Carol Ignacio typifies Ho‘okele Award winners
Known by some as the “social ministry dynamo,” Carol Ignacio’s focus as the executive director of the Office of Social Ministries never wavered. She founded grassroots initiatives to lift up some of the most marginalized–from former inmates and the homeless, to the unemployed and disenfranchised. Her
fingerprints extend across the island, including The Food Basket, the Care-AVan, the Kawaihae Transitional Housing shelter, the Mobile Care Health project, and West Hawai‘i’s onestop shelter known as “The Friendly Place.”
When the Hawai‘i Community the tireless work of nonprofit Foundation announced that leaders. Ignacio is certainly they were awarding Ignacio deserving–quite possibly with a Ho‘okele the living Award, back in embodiment “When my peers 2004, she was of the tireless recognized my surprised. “I commitment it got the call and takes to make commitment and almost fainted,” our community dedication to my she said. “Then a better place. community, it I just bawled.” meant so much Humbled by The Ho‘okele the recognition, Awards–now in more than any she used the their 15th year– dollar amount.” money from recognize and – Carol Ignacio pay tribute to
> Did you know: The HCF Ho‘okele Award is awarded annually to nonprofit leaders who are exceptional guiding forces in our community, working to make Hawai‘i a better place.
Learn how it’s about y ou at HawaiiCommunity F oundation.o r g
the award to invest in her family–her son’s restaurant, other family needs, and a bit set aside for “the little things” she enjoys. “Living in Pa‘auilo, it’s pretty close to heaven already,” she said. “Receiving the award reminded me to take a sabbath day, just for me, and go out onto the land alone and reflect on the life I’ve had the privilege to live.”