SPOTLIGHTS 2020 events

Events are crucial to fulfilling our mission, allowing us to connect with our Hawaii community and raise vital funds to grant wishes. Much like the wishes we granted in fiscal year 2020, our events too saw a shift. Prior to the pandemic, we had hosted our 13th annual Swing for Wishes golf tournament, 7th Annual Jingle Rock Run, and 5th Annual Waffles for Wishes as usual. After the pandemic, we searched for new ways to bring the community together and raise funds—and so our Stars at Home virtual talent show was born! We carried that momentum shortly thereafter into our first virtual gala, WISH! A Virtual Celebration of Hope.

Thank you to our partners at Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa for hosting a successful 13th Annual Swing for Wishes golf tournament on October 3, 2019. Mahalo to all who supported and joined us on the green for this fun tournament benefiting local wish families.

Thousands of participants, sponsors, volunteers, and vendors joined us at the 7th Annual Jingle Rock Run on December 15, 2019 to walk side-by-side with local wish families and share in the power of a wish during the holiday season. Presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Commute with Enterprise, the event raised over $250,000 to make wishes come true.

Hosted on Leap Day, the 5th Annual Waffles for Wishes brunch took place at the beautiful Aloha Tower Marketplace waterfront. The event featured delicious bites from Hawaii’s top restaurants, fun carnival games, entertainment from Paula Fuga and DJ Jimmy Taco, and even a live wish reveal!

Stars at Home: A Virtual Talent Show

Together with presenting sponsors Domino’s Hawaii and Jersey Mike’s Subs Hawaii, we were proud to present our first-ever virtual talent show, Stars at Home last April. The stars in our community came together to show support for local waiting wish keiki by submitting short videos of their unique talents. With $5 gifts, the community voted for their favorite acts over the course of one week, giving virtual “high fives” to our waiting wish keiki whose wishes were postponed due to COVID-19.

After making the difficult decision to cancel our in-person annual white gala, we instead got to work planning our first virtual gala: WISH! A Virtual Celebration of Hope. The event took place on June 11 and aired on Hawaii News Now’s K5, as well as livestreamed on all of their digital platforms and our social media channels. It truly was a celebration of hope, featuring messages of aloha from our community, the inspiring story of a Hilo wish child, and a moving performance from New Hope Oahu.