The Aloha Pacific Foundation donates $10,000 to the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center. Pictured from left to right: Kelli Abe Trifonovitch, Aloha Pacific Foundation board member; Sheri Kajiwara, Aloha Pacific Foundation board secretary; Vince Otsuka, Aloha Pacific FCU president/CEO; Robert Morita, Aloha Pacific Foundation board chair; Reina Miyamoto, Hawaii HomeOwnership Center executive director; and Carol Marx, Hawaii HomeOwnership Center immediate past chair. (Photo: Aloha Pacific FCU)
A $1.2 billion Hawaii credit union, Aloha Pacific Credit Union in Honolulu, is the latest credit union to launch its own foundation.
The Aloha Pacific Foundation will support programs and funding initiatives that align with Aloha Pacific's mission and community service areas, according to a Tuesday announcement from the credit union.
Led by a volunteer board of directors, the Aloha Pacific Foundation will fund and manage the credit union's existing charitable giving initiatives, including grants, donations and scholarship programs. One of these programs is Aloha Pacific's Masami Oishi Memorial Scholarship, and to date, the credit union has contributed $1 million in scholarships, grants and charitable gifts to community-based organizations and local students pursuing higher education, it said.
"As Aloha Pacific has grown over the years, so has our commitment to our members and the communities where they live, work and play. Establishing the Aloha Pacific Foundation is an extension of the 'people helping people' philosophy of credit unions," Vince Otsuka, president/CEO of Aloha Pacific FCU, stated.
The Aloha Pacific Foundation recently made its debut donation – $10,000 to the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center, a non-profit in Honolulu focused on providing counseling, education and support to first-time homeowners in the state.
"The demand for housing is extremely strong in Hawaii and it's important that potential first-time homebuyers are equipped with the necessary knowledge to purchase a home. The Hawaii HomeOwnership Center provides those tools and much more. It's an invaluable resource for anyone looking to buy their first property," Robert Morita, board chair of the Aloha Pacific Foundation, stated.
Reina Miyamoto, executive director of the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center, added, "We are grateful for the support of the Aloha Pacific Foundation. This gift helps us immensely in our mission of educating Hawaii's homebuyers, a goal shared by Aloha Pacific."
Other credit unions that have launched their own foundations in the past five months included the $421 million Education Credit Union in Amarillo, Texas, the $1.2 billion Avadian Credit Union in Hoover, Ala., and the $2.1 billion, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Allegacy Federal Credit Union.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
