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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 20, 2002

Job sells employer on 'service'

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

A year ago August, Bill Tobin's negotiations for a lease for his new Waikiki restaurant were stalled, and he was looking around for some temporary work "so I wouldn't go crazy waiting."

A delay in securing a lease led entrepreneur Bill Tobin to a stint at Aloha United Way. The experience sold him on charitable work, and has charted a course for his new restaurant Tiki's Bar & Grill at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Tobin, 37, applied at a temporary employment service to take his mind off the negotiations.

The job he ended up with took his mind, and his heart as well. He was sent out for an eight-week spot as a "community executive" for Aloha United Way at $10 an hour.

The job gave Tobin a better understanding of AUW. And Sept. 11, 2001, motivated him to continue working with AUW as a volunteer.

"I was blind to the needs of the community before," he said. "We think of our own needs often, but I never realized how many people really are in need."

Tobin is now planning the opening of his Waikiki restaurant, with three private parties next month to raise money for the AUW and two other charities.

Model for others

Donation a click away

For more information about the AUW, visit its Web site. To donate online, go to the Give Help page. To volunteer, call 211.

"He is a great example of how one person can take it upon himself to make a difference in our community, whether as an individual or as part of his or her small business," said Trudie China, AUW vice president for marketing and communications.

It is through people like Tobin, she said, that the AUW hopes to meet its 2002 fund-raising goal even while Hawai'i's economy is still feeling the effects of the terrorist attacks more than a year ago.

As of this week, the AUW campaign is at 24 percent of its $13.2 million goal — better than the 21 percent reached at the same point in last year's campaign.

Immediately after Sept. 11, AUW feared a sharp decrease in donations. But several individuals and corporations stepped up with large gifts, helping the charity reach a five-year record of $14.3 million raised, including its first million-dollar gift.

While donations that size are not likely to be repeated this year, and the economy remains a concern, Aloha United Way President Irving Lauber said the campaign aims to reach thousands of people who want to give, but have not had ample opportunity.

Need recognized

Tobin had donated to the AUW in his first job after college, at Kiewit-Pacific, where he agreed to have $2 deducted from his paycheck every two weeks for the office campaign.

But working for AUW opened his eyes to needs he had not even imagined then. He became aware of all the organizations that AUW helps support, from Parents and Children Together (PACT) to Goodwill.

"They say that one out of every two persons in Hawai'i is touched in some way, directly or indirectly, by programs supported by Aloha United Way," he said.

Moreover, the terror attacks a few weeks into the assignment "put things on hold for the restaurant," Tobin said. "But more important, everyone was thinking after Sept. 11 how they could help, and I realized it was like a blessing that I was in the right place at the right time. The needs of the community skyrocketed, and I wanted to do my part."

Even though the job was over in November, and negotiations for the restaurant lease started up again, Tobin kept coming back to AUW as a volunteer, China said.

The position he held, community executive, involves helping companies to organize their internal fund drives, sometimes speaking to groups of workers and sometimes assisting a company campaign leader.

Natural enthusiasm

His passion has always been the restaurant business, Tobin said, from working at Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu and Maui to being general manager for Sam Choy's Breakfast Lunch and Crab.

But he also has been passionate about anything he's involved in — a trait that proved effective in both business and charitable work.

"I have the ability to speak well in front of people, and my sincerity and my beliefs show," he said matter-of-factly. "My emotions can be contagious."

Tobin admits he considered becoming the chief executive of a charitable organization, and he has toyed with the idea of someday running for public office.

He has secured prime real estate in the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel at 2570 Kala-kaua — the ocean-view rooms once occupied by The Captain's Table — and has nearly finished hiring the staff of his new restaurant, Tiki's Bar & Grill.

Employees drafted

Job applicants at the restaurant were told that the business would be giving back to the community, and that Tobin wanted to hire people willing to support that goal, China said.

When he learned about AUW's a day of caring this month, Tobin rented two buses to transport 65 job applicants to the USS Missouri to polish brass and do other cleanup as a community project.

When Tiki's Bar & Grill stages its three nights of private parties in mid-October, all the revenues will go to charity: one night for the Waikiki Community Center, one night for the Shriners' Childrens Transportation Fund, and one night for Tobin's old employer, Aloha United Way.