Rotary Club of Kona named PGA TOUR Champions Charity of the Year

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – PGA TOUR Champions announced Friday that the Rotary Club of Kona, an official tournament charity partner of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, has been named the Tour’s 2023 Charity of the Year.

“The Rotary Club of Kona has been a cornerstone of this tournaments charitable giving since the event’s inception, and they are an extremely deserving recipient of this distinction,” said PGA TOUR Champions President Miller Brady. “Charity is at the core of PGA TOUR Champions and the efforts of the Rotary Club of Kona have made a tremendous impact in this community, particularly with the young people of Hawaii. Congratulations to the Rotary Club on this well-deserved honor.”

The national honor celebrates the Rotary Club of Kona’s mission of “service above self” for the residents of West Hawaii. The Rotary Club of Kona – an all-volunteer organization – has been a charity for the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai since the tournament’s inception in 1997 and has totaled $1.1 million in contributions over those 28 years. Each year the Rotary Club of Kona is instrumental in recruitment, management and overall operations of the tournament volunteer corps, with approximately 350 volunteers annually. Chartered in 1948, the club has five avenues of service: club service, vocational service, community service, international service and new generations.

“We are honored to receive the award for the PGA TOUR Champions Charity of the Year,” said Rotary Club of Kona President Brian Asbjornson. “The PGA TOUR Champions’ support has enormously impacted our community – from keiki (kids) to kupuna (elders). Our club has given scholarships to local youth, provided equipment to a children’s museum, provided support to a program for at-risk teens and helped provide thousands of hot meals and bags of groceries to a food-insecure community. We’ve also supplied thousands of dollars of equipment to our local community college’s culinary programs and science labs and contributed to the purchase of a water truck for an on-island community with no running water. None of this would have been possible without the support of the PGA TOUR Champions and this event. With our warmest mahalo (thanks), we’d like to recognize the PGA TOUR and all the people who have volunteered to make the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai successful.”

As the Charity of the Year recipient, the Rotary Club of Kona will receive a $30,000 donation from PGA TOUR Champions. The funds will be reinvested back into the community through high school student scholarships, educational support in elementary schools, community park improvements, "Meet N’ Eat" meal program and coordination of the annual Independence Day and Christmas Day parades.

“We are thrilled that the Rotary Club of Kona has been named the Charity of the Year for 2023,” said Tournament Director Kelly Fliear. “They have been a tremendous charity partner for us since the very first playing of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and they exude the aloha spirit that is such an enormous part of what makes our tournament special. Their impact in the community, including helping students and feeding those in need, has been deeply rewarding to see.”

In the last 28 years, the Rotary Club of Kona has funded over $300,000 in scholarships and other projects for local students with zero administration costs. The Rotary Club of Kona has donated over $50,000 to the culinary program and physics lab at Hawaiʻi Community College – Pālamanui and has created scholarships exclusively for students attending the college. In 2023, the Club provided significant contributions for the purchase of a water truck for an island community with no running water. The club also sponsors “Meet N’ Eat,” a feeding program where healthy meals are prepared for underserved families, the disadvantaged and others in need in the Kealakehe area.