Big Promise of Little Things Change Comes From Everyone
A Commitment to Education A Legacy for Generations to Come
When Maui folks learned of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Stanley Izumigawa Scholarship Fund, they wondered if it might be a mistake. Surely it wasn’t that smart, adventurous, kind man who’d spent his life in public education, first as a teacher and then an administrator, and then every Wednesday of his retirement talking story with other retired teachers at the Kaahumanu Shopping Center food court. But then they knew. Of course it was him — the one who’d hunted goats with friends in Kaupo-Nakula, who’d mentored countless other educators, and who’d volunteered as one of the first replacements from the 442nd to join the 100th Battalion in March 1944.
Legacy funds offer people the chance to give a lasting gift to the causes they hold most dear.
Like so many of that Greatest Generation, Izumigawa didn’t talk much about what he’d done in his life. When
Wallace Fujii, his friend of over fifty years, learned of the legacy fund that provided scholarships so descendants of those who’d served with Izumigawa could attend college, he shook his head. “I had no idea he’d done that,” he said. But he wasn’t surprised. Izumigawa had always told his kids — both his own and those he taught — that they should always remember where they came from. Those long days in Africa and Italy, serving alongside other Nisei service members, was where he’d come from, and he hadn’t forgotten. Legacy funds offer donors the chance to give a lasting gift to those causes they hold most dear, simply by designating a portion of their estate to establish the fund upon their passing. Hawai‘i Community Foundation makes that possible, creating the fund and ensuring its proper management and disbursement for generations to come.
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These funds — everything from scholarships to beach preservation to opportunities for under-served communities — lift up our community, leaving it better because of someone’s generosity. One person’s commitment, a fund for generations — that’s the big promise of little things.
If Hawai‘i’s families designated just 10% of their estate to a charitable cause, their investment could mean up to $6 billion back into the community over time. To create a legacy gift, visit HawaiiCommunityFoundation.org/legacy