Volunteer Week organizers hope to attract more than 10,000 people for events statewide

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A cleanup at your favorite beach. Helping kupuna in need.

The possibilities for Volunteer Week in Hawaii are endless.

And this year, Kanu Hawaii is trying to get 10,000 volunteers to participate in events from April 17 to 23.

Keone Kealoha, executive Director for Kanu Hawaii, adds that there is still plenty of time to sign up.

“It’s literally anything that needs volunteers in order to operate,” said Kealoha.

Kanu Hawaii is the group that organizes and facilitates the statewide effort, but he said the focus really is on all the groups who pitch in and the thousands of people who participate.

“There are over 270 opportunities happening during Volunteer Week so there’s no excuse and no reason not to come out and get involved,” he said.

“Part of this process of what we’re launching during volunteer week this year is we’re engaging our youth through the Department of Education, so we have a partnership with DOE and charter schools.”

One Hawaii treasure that relies heavily upon volunteers is the Honolulu Zoo.

Volunteer coordinator Shelby Carlos says they are the unsung heroes of the park.

“They’re amazing. We love our volunteers. They’re a huge part of our zoo family and do everything from educate keiki to gardening and building our youth program and kids camp,” said Carlos.

Volunteering for the sake of volunteering is the idea.

But if you and your ohana need a little motivation, Daniel Chun from Alaska Airlines, has you covered.

“We will have incentives all throughout this month,” Chun said.

“We’ll be in the announcing more information about that, but we’re basically going to be giving away trips all throughout April for those who participate.”

You can learn more by clicking here.

Copyright 2022 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.