BUSINESS BRIEFS
Verizon Wireless aids relief efforts
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Verizon Wireless is helping its customers in Hawai'i participate in the relief efforts for victims of recent natural disasters in China and Myanmar.
Verizon Wireless post-pay customers with phones capable of text messaging can use their phones to make donations to Save the Children, an agency that runs programs focused on early childhood care and development, child survival and child protection.
To participate, customers can send a message to the address 4SAVE (47283), with the key word "quake" to contribute to earthquake relief, or the key word "cyclone" to contribute to cyclone relief. Texters will receive a reply message asking them to confirm a donation to Save the Children of $5 for the designated program. To do so, customers will press "Y" on their keypad, and send that message. Customers wishing to donate more than once can send up to four additional text messages to 4SAVE, for a total contribution of $25 to each effort.
RITZ-CARLTON TO START KAUA'I PROJECT
Ritz-Carlton will hold a traditional Hawaiian blessing and groundbreaking ceremony at Kaua'i Lagoons to mark the start of construction on its first developments on Kaua'i.
An affiliate of Ritz-Carlton is developing private residences on the site of the former Inn on the Cliffs restaurant, along with fractional ownership residences along the 39-acre freshwater lagoon.
The two projects represent a major step in the continuing revitalization of Kaua'i Lagoons resort, according to a news release from the company.
Dignitaries scheduled to attend the 11 a.m. blessing include Kaua'i Mayor Bryan Baptiste, kumu hula Kehaulani Kekua, and executives from Kaua'i Lagoons.
MAUI CHARITIES GET GOLF BENEFITS
Kapalua Maui Charities celebrated the donation of $300,000 to seven Maui beneficiaries and other community organizations at a luncheon honoring the beneficiaries.
The money was raised through the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship, which has contributed nearly $3 million to more than 60 different Maui organizations since 1999.
This year the designated beneficiaries receiving the majority of the proceeds from Kapalua Maui Charities include: Boy Scouts of America-Maui County council; Friends of the Children's Justice Center; Hale Makua; J. Walter Cameron Center; Ka Lima O Maui; Lahainaluna High School Foundation and Maui Memorial Medical Center Foundation.
The Mercedes-Benz Championship was held this year at The Plantation Course in Kapalua Resort. The event contributed more than $32 million to the state economy, according to Gary Planos, tournament chairman.
Kapalua Maui Charities Inc., the host organization of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, is a nonprofit organization that helps support a broad group of Maui-based charities.
KAPALUA FESTIVAL WINS RECOGNITION
The Kapalua Wine & Food Festival was named one of the top 10 seafood and wine festivals in Coastal Living Magazine's June issue.
The Maui event is set for June 26-29, at the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua. Participants will include chefs, winemakers and food critics.
Other events on the list included the Sushi & Sake Festival June 14 in Long Beach, Calif., and the Clayoquot Oyster Festival, British Columbia, Canada, held the weekend before Thanksgiving.
