It's all about giving back to the Big Island's communities at Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, where associates in all hotel departments continuously devote their time and resources to helping local charities. Here are just two examples of recent fundraising initiatives for Hawaii Island Food Basket and Hawaii Island United Way.
For the Hawaii Island Food Basket, Waikoloa Beach Marriott associates held a month-long food drive to raise funds and collect donations of non-perishable food items, including canned goods, saimin, rice and more. They also hosted a bake sale where associates could purchase yummy treats. The money raised from the bake sale was used to purchase food item donations. A total of 1,184 lbs. of food items were collected and donated!
Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa associates presented a $5,000 donation to Darla DeVille, president and chief operating officer of Hawaii Island United Way. Funds were raised over the period of one month at the oceanfront resort through a friendly challenge organized by Food & Beverage Administrative Assistant Lanakila Graves and Senior Human Resources Generalist Kelly Alonzo.
Lanakila and Kelly divided the associates in each department into teams. To raise funds, the associates could each donate $10 or conduct a fundraiser in which they sold items including candy, lei for guests at their on-site Royal Luau, portuguese sausage, and more! The Housekeeping department created a “mini store” and sold instant saimin, bottled water, assorted chips, candies, and popcorn. To track progress toward the resort’s $5,000 goal, Lanakila and Kelly designed a race track with mini cars representing each department, fueling excitement and competition between teams who wanted to see their car cross the finish line first! Because of Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa’s contribution, Hawaii Island United Way’s campaign reached a total of $1.2 million dollars raised.
