Happy New Year to all! Thank you to everyone who came to our final regular meeting of the year, which was rather small, but successful. I had a number of people tell me that they enjoyed the Talk-Story holiday celebration and discussion of where the Club stands as we transition into the second half of my presidential year. We started the meeting strong with a solid pledge of allegiance led by Mitch D'Olier, a Rotary-themed holiday song led by Lee LaBrash (with thanks also to Reese Liggett for encouraging Lee’s creativity) and a wonderful impromptu inspiration from Linda Coble. Valuable feedback on how the Club is doing was shared by all of Alice Tucker, Nancy Grekin, Dawn Marie, Hai Cha Lambert, Bob Sigall, Michael Marsh, Dave Shanahan, Don Anderson and Paul Saito, as well as others. I hope to incorporate many of those suggestions into my plans for the rest of our Rotary Year. Thanks again to all who spoke during the meeting, and I also encourage everyone to share their opinions with me both in person and electronically. It really does help guide our leadership of the Club.
For those who were not at the final meeting of 2025, one of the announcements was that our own Past President Rich Proctor is NPR-famous! Last October, the NPR “news quiz show” Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me (WWDTM) recorded two shows in Honolulu at the Blaisdell Center – one on Thursday and one on Friday. I know this because I personally attended the Thursday performance, which was then broadcast the following weekend. I did, however, wonder at the time when the second show would be broadcast, as they did not air two weekends in a row from Hawaii. It turns out that at least one regular segment (Bluff the Listener) from that Friday show was part of this last weekend’s year-end recap of WWDTM, and Rich was the caller for that segment. If you have not heard the show on HPR, it is available as a podcast for listening at any time. (Bluff the Listener starts at timestamp 11:50.) It is definitely worth a few minutes to check it out, even if you are not a regular WWDTM fan (which you really should be).
As a reminder, our next regular meeting will be on January 6 at The Pacific Club and will feature Crystal Rose, Board Chair, and Jack Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Kamehameha Schools discussing their efforts to respond to the current political moment. I look forward, as always, to seeing many of you there for our first regular meeting of the new calendar year. The following week will be Restaurant Week, with a selection of lunch options across the island and the week. I hope to see many of you there as well.
Nan, Inc Donates $1 Million to YMCA of Honolulu & Name Gym at Reimagined Nu'uanu Y Project in Honor of Don Anderson. The YMCA of Honolulu has received a transformational $1 million gift from Nan, Inc. to support the reimagined Nuʻuanu YMCA. This gift honors the decades-long humanitarian leadership of former YMCA President & CEO Don Anderson and the 25-year friendship he shares with Nan, Inc. founder Nan Shin.
Shin’s story is remarkable. Raised in humble circumstances in South Korea, he built Nan, Inc. from a single-stop-sign contract into one of Hawaiʻi’s largest locally owned construction and development companies. Throughout that success, he has remained deeply grounded — quietly giving millions of dollars and thousands of his and his employees' volunteer hours to strengthen communities across Hawaiʻi and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
His partnership with Anderson began through the YMCA’s Philippines Service Project, where they together supported hands-on humanitarian efforts to build classrooms, birthing centers, sanitation systems, youth shelters, agricultural training facilities, and medical clinics across the Philippines, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Their work also created life-changing leadership experiences for hundreds of young adults from Hawaiʻi.
The new gym at the reimagined Nuʻuanu YMCA will be named in Anderson’s honor, recognizing his six decades of service, 43 humanitarian missions, and more than $2.1 million raised to support communities in need. His leadership has shaped generations of youth locally and across the Pacific.
This gift celebrates a friendship rooted in service, a legacy of global impact, and a shared belief that when one life is lifted, entire communities rise. It ensures that the Nuʻuanu YMCA will continue to be a place of health, connection, and leadership development for generations to come.
Please sign up to volunteer, all you Rotarians & Please Invite All Your High School Students to join us!
Our hope is to reach every Oahu High School student with this incredible opportunity. Please foward/share this information with anyone you think would benefit!
We’re also available for RYLA Presentations… but we better hurry, January 30 is just around the corner.
Did we mention, it’s Free!? Rotary sponsors everyone.
Everything you need to know - timeframe, costs, project, and post-tour information is in the link below! Passports and travel arrangements must be made in advance.
To sign up for this amazing International Service Project, click this link. Reserve your spot by 15 January 2026!
If you have a project you'd like to present, please complete the Project Recommendation Form and email to our Director of Community Services, Nancy HERE.
Do you have a speaker recommendation? If so, please complete theSpeaker Recommendation Formand send it to RCOH Administrator, HERE. She will submit all forms to the Speaker Committee.
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