Waikoloa Foundations Comment Letter dated 12-6-21

Home

tkc WAIKOLOA /I December 6, 2021 Mr. Michael Vitousek, Chair Leeward Planning Commission 101 Pauahi Street, Room 3 Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Chair and Members of the Commission: First, please allow me a moment to thank you for welcoming my thoughts on the Kumu Hou timeshare development at the November 181h meeting. My passion for giving back to our community, for preserving and protecting our island and for educating our visitors is sincere. It is truly a privilege to devote my life to the realization of my family's vision for supporting the community of West Hawaii. Doing so through the creation and perpetuation of The Waikoloa Foundation has been my dream, which is why the Kumu Hou project excites me so greatly. As my counterparts at the Waikoloa Land Company illustrated, building substantial and lasting community benefit into this project has been a priority from the very beginning. Rarely, if ever, has a developer committed resort property to affordable kama`5ina housing and committed sales proceeds to so significantly endow a foundation. I took to heart your comments about what the community would be giving in approval of this request, and I believe that I may help assure you that the benefits returned would be extensive and enduring. To that end, I'd like to share with you more information about The Foundation's mission, its members, some of the programs we have supported and/or participated in and, moving forward with the guidance of our advisory board, the kinds of programs we anticipate doing in the future. The Waikoloa Foundation is dedicated to serving the community based on a careful evaluation of needs. Important recent and forthcoming initiatives include: COVID Education for Hawai`i's Keiki. The Waikoloa Foundation was one of the first business partners for the Keiki Heroes campaign supporting COVID prevention in educational settings. Keiki Heroes is a Hawaii STEM Community Care project that encourages keiki to adopt healthy habits and to recognize signs and symptoms of COVID illness. The Keiki Heroes campaign launched in mid-August with the goal of empowering keiki to adopt healthy practices in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses. Virtual Field Trips for Environmental and Historical Learning. We are developing virtual field trip experiences for students grades 2-5 island-wide, offering digital access to unique environmental and historical features of Waikoloa and the surrounding area. These virtual field trips will cover different topics from flora and fauna, to education on surrounding cultural sites, and ocean discovery. Our goal is to produce approximately six field trips each year.