Posted on: Friday, October 26, 2001

Editorial
Philanthropy: It has never been timelier

We don't write an editorial every time someone writes a check to a worthy charity; it happens all the time in generous, sharing Hawai'i.

But the timing and the nature of a couple of recent gifts from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation and from descendants of James Campbell were too important to pass by. Castle gave $50,000 each to five local charities: Catholic Charities, Hawai'i Foodbank, Helping Hands Hawai'i, the Institute for Human Services homeless shelter and the Salvation Army.

The Campbell family gave more than an impressive half-million dollars to Aloha United Way plus smaller individual amounts to a similar list of "front-line" groups.

These contributions, though generous, are far from enough to solve the problems we face as a community. Think of them as seed money.

In short, there's still plenty of room for your help, too. The safety net is frail.