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West Side Rotary Clubs offer Christmas blessing for Lahainaluna Class of 2025

By Staff | Dec 18, 2023

Art Fillazar, executive director of the Lahainaluna High School Foundation, assisted the Rotary Clubs of West Maui in the funding efforts to support the spring Junior Prom event.

LAHAINA — The three Rotary Clubs of Lahaina collaborated to provide funds for the Lahainaluna High School Class of 2025. The Junior Prom is a once-in-a-lifetime event that is a cherished tradition for the Lahainaluna High School students. The Rotary clubs are offering a $7,500 contribution to offset the food costs for the event scheduled for this coming spring.

Class Advisor Jamie Eva Palakiko said, “This year, about 75 percent of our Class of 2025 student body has lost their homes to the fires. Many more in the class have families who have suffered financial losses as well. Every student in our class has been affected by the fires. Now, with many of them having to be relocated during the holidays, the stress is mounting for their entire family. Simple things like putting up a Christmas tree this month is not an option.”

Working with Art Fillazar, executive director of the Lahainaluna High School Foundation, the Rotary Clubs reviewed the expenses associated with the event. Many of the expenses such as formal attire, deejay, decorations, lei and flowers have been taken care of by the generous West Maui community.

The Westin Resort had already waived the resort and ballroom fees. The price of the food and drink was the final piece remaining to be covered.

Rotarians agreed to provide a portion of their clubs’ Fire Relief contributions to support this event.

Palakiko said, “What a great Christmas blessing this will be to be able to announce to the kids that they can enjoy this lifelong high school memory with no stress — just pure joy for them and their family.”

The support for this event is one of the many community service projects sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of West Maui.

Rotary is a leadership organization made up of local business, professional and civic leaders. For more information about these Rotary Clubs, contact Maui Rotary Advisor Joanne Laird at mamalrd01@gmail.com.