April 2011
2011 Financial Fitness Fair
The 2011 Financial Fitness Fair was held on April 23rd at the Honolulu Country Club with over 225 people attending.
In his opening address, Alan Chinen, CEO of Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group, announced the formation of the Chinen&Arinaga Charitable Foundation whose purpose is to provide humanitarian aid and financial support children who have suffered from natural disasters.
James Kerr from SuperGeeks spoke about dangers of keeping your personal information on your computer secure and what you need to do to protect yourself from these attacks. The question and answer period at the end of the presentation allowed the audience to get their personal questions answered. One participant commented that it made him aware of dangers of computer use.
Judy Lee from Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn and Stifel surely made the audience think about their own wills and trust. Judy’s session gave the audience things to think about and things that need to be done with their wills and / or trusts.
Susanne Case of Nature Conservancy made it evident that we must all be aware of the environmental issues confronting our state and how it can adversely affect the local economy.
We collected $600 And 639 pounds of food for the Hawaii Foodbank.
All in all, another Financial Fitness Fair was successfully concluded.
Some comments:“Mahalo for putting on such a wonderful and educational seminar for a diverse group of speakers, a onolicious lunch and great door prizes and smooth registration/sign in.”
“Really enjoyed all speakers and the topics presented…diverse but appealing.”
“Pleasantly surprised by EVERYTHING!”
“Terrific knowledgeable presenters / relevant information.”
“Thank you for a wonderful program – as usual. Great topics!”
“Learned a lot! We look forward to your fairs! I appreciate the exposure you give us by these speakers.”
“Very informative sessions. Am truly thankful to have been here to hear these inspiring speakers. You guys are doing a great job selecting such great speakers. Keep up the good work!”
“An excellent way to spend by Saturday morning!”
“I learned more than I expected.”
“Thank you for another wonderful presentation. Really appreciate your yearly Financial Fitness Fair. Thank you for allowing me to bring my friends.”
“Thank you very much for providing the opportunity to learn from experts in the field about protecting, planning and preserving things in our environment.”
“Thank you for inviting us again – this is our third Financial Fitness Fair and we really enjoy all the work and planning that goes into putting these fairs on. We really look forward to attending. The speakers you select are always so excellent. Really enjoyed the day.”
March 2011
Moanalua Complex Shoeboxes for the Homeless Project
In March 2011, Salt Lake Elementary, Fort Shafter Elementary, Moanalua Elementary and Red Hill Elementary participated in the Shoeboxes for the Homeless Project, sponsored by Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group. A total of 445 shoeboxes were collected and donated to the Honolulu Community Action Program (HCAP) to distribute to the needy around the island.
Daniel Peters of Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group coordinated the project with the Moanalua schools and presented each of the four schools $250 for participating in the community service project.
February 2011
Castle Complex Shoeboxes for the Homeless Project
Castle Complex again participated in Chinen&Arinaga's Shoeboxes for the Homeless project. The number of boxes collected surely reflects the concern that windward children have toward those who have less than they do. This year was another record year with 1,436 boxes collected!
Again, this year, Waiahole Elementary School's pupils contributed more than their share, with 211% participation! Pictured is John Au (VP, CAFG, shoebox drive coordinator), Chris Lopes (health aide and school shoebox drive coordinator) and Karen Maeda (Principal).
We are proud to be a part of the Shoeboxes for the Homeless project and congratulate the entire complex!
December 2010
Walter Komatsubara awarded Symetra Community Champion Award
Walter Komatsubara, client of Alan Chinen, was posthumously granted the Symetra Community Champion Award. Walter passed away in June 2010, so his wife Lillian and son Keith accepted the award in December 2010. Symetra donated $2500 to Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation in behalf of Komatsubara. Kendis Teho, Executive Director of HCCF gratefully accepted the donation.
November 2010
2nd Annual Mililani School District Shoeboxes for the Homeless Project
Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group sponsored the 2nd Annual Shoeboxes for the Homeless Project in the Mililani School district. All seven Mililani schools participated, collecting over 1200 shoeboxes for the homeless in November. HCAP, Honolulu Community Action Program received the shoeboxes for distribution to homeless families on Oahu. Mililani students generously and thoughtfully filled shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, toiletries, flashlights, and other items which they felt homeless families may need.
August 2010
Waipio Little League, 2010 United States Little League Champions
Congratulations Waipio Little League, the 2010 United States Little League Champions. We at Chinen&Arinaga applaud your tenacity and attitude. You represented Waipio, Hawaii and the United States with class!
April 2010
Hawaii's 2010 National Distinguished Principal
Michael Harano received the "Berry Good" Award from Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group. He received a $25 gift card from Jamba Juice.
Michael, principal of Washington Middle School, was selected as Hawaii's 2010 National Distinguished Principal. Mike and his wife, Sistan are clients of Aran Hiromoto.
Mike will represent Hawaii and will be travelling to Washington DC to accept his award where he will meet other educators from across the nation who have also earned their state's recognition.
Tom Arinaga awarded SIS Community Champion Award
Congratulations to Thomas Arinaga, father of Martin Arinaga, who was chosen as one of Symetra Investment Services Community Champion. The award was presented at our annual Financial Fitness Fair by Bridget Burgess, president of Symetra Investment Services, Inc. (SIS)
Tom was instrumental in the formation and development of Aged to Perfection Senior Day Care Center in Wahiawa, Oahu. In1975, Tom was a Sunday school teacher at the United Methodist Church, where he and others in his group had an idea to start a senior day care center. It took 5 years from conception to its opening in 1980 on the grounds of the United Methodist Church.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Aged To Perfection Senior Day Care Center, a non-profit organization that serves the West and Central Oahu area. Aged To Perfection accepts those that other adult day care centers do not accept, such as those on wheelchairs, those who are incontinent, and those with Alzheimer's disease. Clients are mostly elderly, with the average age of 80 years old, and two-thirds are women.
A doctor serves as one of the Board members and the staff includes an RN, LPN, CNA's and an Activity Director. They provide multi-generational interaction with students from pre-school to college, prepare delicious home-style meals for their clients and have the longest hours of any adult day care in the State of Hawaii. Clients of Aged To Perfection are very fortunate to enjy all the benefits of this extraordinary adult day care facility.
Harrison Peters, Program Director of Aged To Perfection (ATP), states that Tom has served as a volunteer in many capacities through the past 35 years, and today is Chairman of the Board. he is the gardener and landscaper for the Church and for ATP. He has done maintenance work, administrative assistance and served as human resources administrator. He has served as interim program director when needed.
The success of ATP Senior Day Care Center is due to Tom Arinaga's foresight, dedication, hard work, elbow grease and perseverance. His vision for much needed elder care in Wahiawa has come to fruition and today ATP proudly serves the community with an outstanding program and facility.
Tom Arinaga is a retired educator from the Hawaii State Department of Education. He and his wife, Hisako, (deceased in 2009), raised a family of two sons and two daughters. His son Martin Arinaga is one of the founders of Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group, Inc.
From 1965 to 1970 Tom took his family to Haneji, a small village in Okinawa to teach the villagers how to raise crops, livestock and develop their own businesses. He is an active member of the United Methodist Church in Wahiawa. Tom leaves a legacy of volunteerism in Wahiawa town.
2010 Financial Fitness Fair Recap
Chinen&Arinaga's seventh annual Financial Fitness Fair was a huge success! Over 200 people attended the annual affair at the Honolulu Country Club and many planned to return for next year's event.
Darren Kimura, entrepreneur and President and CEO fo Sopogy (SOlar POwer enerGY) gave us his vision of what we can do to help Hawaii economically and environmentally.
Bridget Burgess, President of Symetra Investment Services, Inc (SIS) gave us specific tips on how to prepare financially for retirement.
The highlight though was her presentation of the Symetra Community Champion Award to Tom Arinaga, father of Martin Arinaga, for his efforts in organizing and continued support of Aged To Perfection, a non-profit day care center for seniors. We at Chinen&Arinaga are proud that Tom was chosen from nominees across the nation.
Roy Sakuma, famed ukulele teacher, shared his life story of loneliness and pain growing up in a family plagued with mental illness. Through love and support from friends and family he was able to change his life from one with no direction to finding a path in life of giving help to others, especially children.
All who heard his words were deeply moved. Educational, motivating and inspirational were some of the comments.
March 2010
Kaneohe schools participate in 4th Annual Shoeboxes for the Homeless Drive
Press Release: Source: Honolulu Advertiser
The 4th annual Shoeboxes for the Homeless Drive was another huge success! For the first time ever, all 10 Kaneohe area public schools participated. A total of 1075 shoeboxes were collected on Wednesday, February 10, 2010.
"I am blown away by the generosity of the students, families and staff of all the schools in light of the difficult financial times and with schools working extra hard to stay on pace due to furlough Fridays", said John Au, Vice President of Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group, and organizer of the drive.
For the second year, John Au partnered with Jadine Yonemitsu of the Kaneohe Community Family Center to collect and distribute the shoeboxes to various social service agencies on the Windward side.
Participating schools in this year's drive included Kaneohe Elem., Puohala Elem., Kapunahala Elem., Ben Parker Elem., Heeia Elem., Ahuimanu Elem., Kahaluu Elem., Waiahole Elem., King Intermediate, and Castle High School. Eight of the schools received $100.00 from Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group for having over 25% of their students participate.
January 2010
Hawaii's 2010 State Teacher of the Year
Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group is proud to announce that Wima Chulakote, client of Layne Takayama was named Hawaii's 2010 State Teacher of the Year.
Press Release: Department of Education News Release
Wima Chulakote, a mathematics teacher at Olomana School is Hawaii's 2010 State Teacher of the Year. He was hired by Olomana School in 2004 as its first highly qualified math teacher. Students know he is willing to meet them anytime, any place, at nights, and on weekends to help them learn math. Wima believes "if given the opportunity to prove themselves, all students are capable of success regardless of their background or past experiences."
Congratulations Wima! We are proud of you!