KS finance team builds and donates bikes to Wai'anae charter school

Kamaile Academy Principal Paul Kepka, KS Investment Operations Director Euan Beer, Planning and Development Director Duff Janus and others unload bikes donated to the charter school by Finance Group staffers, as part of the group’s annual community giving project.

Aug. 19, 2020

Contributed by Aron Dote

Kamehameha Schools Finance Group staffers invested their time and talent into enhancing the health of haumāna by building and donating bicycles to Kamaile Academy, a Hawaiian-focused charter school in Wai‘anae. The community giving activity was part of the group’s annual community giving project.

Kamaile Academy Principal Paul Kepka was grateful for the gift that will allow students to stay active, even during the state shutdown.

“The kids are going to be able to ride around the neighborhood and get exercise, especially when a lot of them are in their homes right now, not doing as much sports and activities that they may have been doing otherwise.”

The Finance team donated 15 bikes and partnered with KS Kakaʻako tenant BOCA HAWAII – a bike and repair shop – who donated bike helmets and oversaw the safe assembly of the bicycles.

To find a fitting beneficiary for the bikes, the team reached out to KS Leeward Oʻahu Regional Director Kalei Kailihiwa KSK’93. Kailihiwa recommended Kamaile Academy because 78.7% of its students live in economic hardship, 14.1% of its students are homeless or live in transitional housing, and nearly 60% of its students are of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

KS Leeward Oʻahu Regional Director Kalei Kailihiwa, Planning and Development Director Duff Janus, Investment Operations Director Euan Beer, Functional System and Financial Analyst Stephanie Tancayo, and Kamaile Academy Principal Paul Kepka line up with some of the 15 bikes and helmets donated to the Hawaiian-focused charter school.