×
×
homepage logo

Napili Kai Foundation receives grant

By Staff | Jul 22, 2010

Napili Kai Foundation’s public performances are now the longest-running keiki hula show in the State of Hawaii.

NAPILI — The trustees of the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation selected Napili Kai Foundation for its Capital Enhancements Award for Cultural Performance Series.

The nonprofit Napili Kai Foundation was founded in September 1966 by Jack and Margaret Millar to perpetuate the culture of Hawaii. 

For the past 44 years, it has provided year-round instruction, free of charge, for up to 45 children ages of 6-18 in a year-round after school program. 

Under the tutelage of an experienced kumu of the highest credentials and her assistants, the keiki receive instruction on the dances, language, history, arts and crafts of Hawaii and also Polynesia.

The $4,450 award from the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation will be used to enhance the children’s weekly performances at Napili Kai Beach Resort by providing them with new drums and implements, as well as new Tahitian costumes to replace the pareos they had been using. 

The performances — held every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in a pavilion of the resort — are open to the public. 

Their culturally vibrant presentations, enhanced by the use of authentic implements and costumes, are accompanied by live music. 

Upon graduation, Napili Kai Foundation members are also eligible for scholarships of up to $3,000 to help them continue their education for up to four consecutive years.

Fred Baldwin (1881-1905), beloved by family and friends, was one of eight children of Emily and Henry Baldwin.

He attended Yale University, where he was an enthusiastic athlete. After graduating in 1903, he returned to Maui and managed the Haiku and Grove ranches for two years.

While vacationing with relatives in New York, he fell ill and underwent surgery for appendicitis. He died seven days later at the age of 24.

More than a century later, his memory lives on through the philanthropy of the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation.

Children ages 6-18 are accepted in Napili Kai Foundation without regard to race, ability or prior experience. 

For more information, visit www.napilikaifoundation.com or call Louise Ross, foundation president, at 669-8384.