Achievers
Advertiser Staff
The Hawaii Women's Legal Foundation recently presented the Rhoda Lewis Award for Public Service to Elizabeth Croom of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii.
Named after Rhoda V. Lewis, the first woman appointed to the Hawai'i Supreme Court, the award provides a $500 honorarium to an outstanding female attorney. Money for the award comes from Esther and Clifford Arinaga, Croom has developed two statewide projects at Legal Aid — the Medicare Advocacy Project, which focuses on maximizing federal Medicare benefits for elderly citizens on the Big Island, particularly homebound seniors who depend on Medicare home health coverage, and the Legal Services for Adoptive Families Project, which focuses on hastening and increasing adoptions of children whose parents are unfit to raise them.
• The Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission has announced its 2002 art contest winners: Rachel Tamura, fourth grade, Mililani Uka Elementary, for "Everyone Is So Special;" Kamuela Kalilikane, fifth grade, Pohakea Elementary, for "My Colorful World"; Megan Kira, sixth grade, Pearl City Highlands, for "We Could Create a Better and More Loving World."
• Cordelia Fukuhara, an associate manager with AT&T government markets, has been named the 2002 American Business Women's Association Woman of the Year for the Na Kilohana O Wahine Chapter.
Fukuhara serves as the chapter's secretary and editor of the chapter newsletter. Under her guidance, the newsletter competed with entries from 12 other states and won the Western Regional newsletter award for 2001.
She has previously held all other offices in the chapter and is active with the American Association of University Women and the Hawaii United Okinawa Association.
• The Hawai'i Forestry Industry Association has selected officers for its board of directors. They are: president, Steve Smith, a forestry consultant based in Lawa'i, Kaua'i; vice president, Tommy Crabb, a Hilo forestry consultant; and secretary, James Brewbaker, and treasurer, Lawrence Nitz, both University of Hawai'i professors.
Elected to the board were: Bill Cowern, of Hawaiian Mahogany Co. Inc.; Kip Dunbar, Moloka'i forest landowner; Marty Fernandes, a horticulturalist for Kilohana Farms on Kaua'i; and Randy Senock, assistant professor of forestry at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo.
Re-elected were: James Brewbaker, Tommy Crabb, Tai Lake, Lawrence Nitz, Robert Osgood, Bart Potter, John Wittenburg and Marian Yasuda.
Continuing terms for another year were: Lloyd Jones, Sally Rice, Peter Simmons and Steve Smith.
The Hawai'i Forestry Industry Association is a nonprofit corporation with a diverse membership interested in managing and maintaining healthy, sustainable, productive forests. The association promotes a balance of forest land uses, ranging from protecting pristine native forests to managing agricultural forest areas for commercial purposes.
• Annie Alves of Wailuku, Maui, a member of Wilbert Wa Hu Tom Auxiliary 3850 and the Hawai'i area president, was honored by the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States at its recent 2002 National Mid-Year Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Preserving American heritage, offering scholarships to young people, raising funds for cancer research and volunteering in the nation's VA medical centers are some of the ongoing programs conducted nationwide by members of the Ladies Auxiliary VFW.
