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Grants

Foundations and entities who contributed recently to Maui County community nonprofits and others are as follows:

The Group 70 Foundation, created in 2002 by employees of Hawaii’s largest kamaaina design firm, Group 70 International, awarded $65,000 to its 2014 grant recipients on Nov. 10 at its downtown Honolulu office. Maui County awards went to the Lahaina Arts Association ($5,000 grant) and the Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike Building Program ($10,000 grant).

Since 2002, the foundation has donated more than $500,000 to local nonprofit organizations. For a list of all past grant recipients, visit “http://www.group70foundation.com”>www.group70foundation.com.

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The Maui Historical Society has received a $5,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to support the 2015 Lei Day Heritage Festival to be held May 1 at Hale Ho’ike’ike (Bailey House Museum) in Wailuku. Activities will include Hawaiian cultural arts and crafts workshops, exhibits, and performances related to hula, mele and lei. The Lei Day Heritage Festival will support the mission of the Maui Historical Society and OHA by increasing awareness and participation in Hawaiian cultural activities for Maui kamaaina and visitors with an enjoyable, educational, and free community event, according to an announcement.

“We are honored and grateful to receive funding from OHA to promote the history and heritage of our artifacts and also to perpetuate the practice and craftsmanship of Native Hawaiian culture,” said Sissy Lake-Farm, executive director of the Maui Historical Society. For more information on the program, contact Kekai Robinson, event coordinator, at 244-3326 or visit www.mauimuseum.org.

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Three Maui schools were among 10 schools in the state that were awarded a total of $7,000 from Kaiser Permanente in the semianual Fire Up Your Feet Activity Challenge.

Thousands of students, families and school staff at more than 24 schools in Hawaii participated in the challenge, tracking more than 1,481,690 minutes of physical activity – walking, biking, jogging, surfing and more – over the course of one month in October.

The Maui schools receiving donations were Haiku Elementary, $1,000; King Kamehameha III Elementary, $300; Kula Elementary, $200. The money goes toward supporting physical activity and wellness programs at the schools.

For the challenge, parents, students and school staff kept track of their physical activity online. Schools could win awards in several categories, including overall participation, highest weekly activity tracking numbers and most bike activity.

“Teaching our keiki the importance of physical activity at a young age plays an important role in the development of healthy habits and lifestyles,” said Joy Barua, director of Community Benefit and Health Policy at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. “We are proud to reward local schools for the hard work of their students, teachers and parents, so they may continue to provide programs to motivate our youth to stay healthy and active.”

The national, ongoing program was launched in 2013 as part of Kaiser Permanente’s Thriving Schools campaign. Kindergarten to 8th-grade public, private and charter schools in the state can participate in activity challenges held in the spring and fall school semesters.

To learn more about Fire Up Your Feet or to sign up for the next activity challenge April 13 to May 15, visit fireupyourfeet.org.

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Foundations and entities that contributed recently to Maui County community nonprofits and others are as follows:

Maui Preparatory Academy has been awarded a flexible operating grant of $50,000 from the Hawaii Community Foundation. The FLEX grant will allow Maui Prep to expand significantly its capacity to offer diverse and distinctive educational services to the local and international community, sustaining and improving the educational opportunities for students in Maui County, according to the school.

This funding supports three primary initiatives outlined in the schools 2012-17 strategic plan. First, funding will be used to increase enrollment in the school’s International Boarding Program. The school’s boarding facility opened in the fall and is expected to reach full capacity within three years. By the 2018-19 school year, the academy’s population will grow by at least 25 percent and Maui Prep’s graduating class will double in size from current figures, the school estimates.

Grant funds will also be used to develop and expand the Inter-Island Scholarship Program to recruit Lanai and Molokai students who demonstrate leadership potential in academics and a desire to make a positive impact in other areas of the school including fine and performing arts, community service, athletics and student government. Molokai and Lanai students will receive tuition aid to attend Maui Prep’s academic program and board in the international boarding facility.

Finally, Maui Prep will use funding for its new Science, Technology, Art, Engineering, Math initiative. This strategy will pioneer the island’s first STEAM-inspired curriculum at the middle and high school level, according to the school.

“Maui Prep was a proud recipient of Hawaii Community Foundation support as one of Hawaii’s Schools of the Future, and very much appreciate the foundation’s continuing recognition of the important educational and community role Maui Prep plays in West Maui and beyond,” says Jonathan Silver, head of school.

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