Tournament sponsor works to deepen ties with Maui community

This week marks 2nd year of Sentry’s involvement with TOC in Kapalua

KAPALUA -- When Pete McPartland saw the opportunity for his company, Sentry Insurance, to become the title sponsor of the Tournament of Champions PGA Tour golf tournament about 18 months ago, he knew it would be a partnership with the island community.

In the first Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Stevens Point, Wis., company and McPartland, the chairman, president and CEO, largely stepped back and observed the way the event was run.

With the second edition of the tournament running this week, Sentry has stepped up its local commitment. Sentry announced Tuesday that it will donate $25,000 to Maui United Way and start a local scholarship program for public school students in Maui County.

"It was announced that we would become the Tournament of Champions sponsor, I want to say August or late July of 2017, something like that, but we barely had more than maybe three months to understand enough of the tournament itself to know how to contribute and begin to put Sentry's stamp on things," McPartland said. "Now, what we clearly didn't have time to do at that period was understand the kind of charitable aspect of the tournament and being a PGA sponsor and how it would relate to Maui, other than to know that that would be something that we would indeed come to understand better and put a little more of our own stamp on. So to that end we went to work on that after the tournament in 2018."

Kari Luna Nunokawa, the president and CPO of Maui United Way, quickly chimed in.

"This is amazing. Thank you so much," she said. "We just want to express our deepest appreciation to Sentry Insurance. This is an amazing start of a beautiful partnership, I think. I welcome you to Maui and our county and we are so excited."

Sentry also announced it is starting a scholarship program for Maui public high school students -- up to a dozen per year -- to attend the University of Hawaii and its affiliated Hawaii community colleges.

Two $2,500 annual scholarships will be awarded to Maui County students pursuing a bachelor's degree, and two $1,000 annual scholarships will be awarded to two students pursuing an associate degree. The scholarships are renewable provided students continue to meet eligibility criteria.

The program is modeled after Sentry scholarships long established in Wisconsin. Both are designed to promote local workforce development. Sentry will announce the names of the scholarship winners in the spring.

Proceeds of the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions will go to a number of designated nonprofit organizations throughout Maui. Some of 2018's recipients included Maui County Council, Boy Scouts of America; Friends of the Children's Justice Center; and Hale Makua Health Services. Beneficiaries of money raised during the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions will be announced and awarded in the spring as well.

New Maui County Mayor Mike Victorino is impressed with the commitment and connection Sentry has made to the county.

"This is a true ohana. I think Kari can attest to this -- and we go way back, her father and I were Jaycees," Victorino said. "My son and her went to school together, so connections around this room. And the population, just like in your hometown, is very similar. We believe in family. The homegrown talent, like we talked about, and preserving and keeping them here. So thank you very much for those scholarships. Thank you for helping United Way."

Sentry sent a delegation to the island in June and met with Victorino then.

"Mike spent a lot of time with us, educating us on Maui from a kind of quality of life standpoint, looking beyond the things that we could see on a glancing blow from in terms of the homes, the resorts and things like that and educated us on the demographic, on kind of some of the cultural aspects, some of the needs of the people of Maui," McPartland said. "And we came away really enlightened from that particular trip."

Victorino has been an insurance agent here for 38 years, giving him a strong feeling for the goals of Sentry in its new home away from Wisconsin.

"So what he's talking about, generational, family, protecting your well-being, that's something that I tell you is built in to an insurance company like Sentry," Victorino said.

McPartland said that the employees left back in Stevens Point this week are holding Maui-themed days at the office. The company also tries to share some of its Midwestern roots here as well.

"We, of course, try to bring a little bit of Wisconsin here to Maui as well and we created an evening last year, big party, that we called cheeseheads in paradise, where the only food served are brats, macaroni and cheese and Wisconsin stuff." McPartland said. "And let me tell you, the plates were piled high at the buffet line with macaroni and cheese and brats and so on. So we bring a little bit of a flavor of Wisconsin to the state and that's another fun aspect."

* Robert Collias can be reached at rcollias@mauinews.com.