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 Recape
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!
November 2009
Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group Earns Outstanding Achievement Award
On October 16, 2009, Symetra Investment Services, Inc. (SIS) announced that the Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group has won its award for "Outstanding Achievement in an Agency" for 2009. As Chinen&Arinaga's broker/dealer, SIS administers processing and compliance oversight on behalf of Chinen&Arinaga Group's client accounts.
SIS annually recognizes an outstanding agency based on excellence in business development, client service expertise, professional aptitude and overall performance. The Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group has a solid track record of success and experience in financial services, offering clients the resources they need to create a comprehensive wealth management system.
The award was presented to CAFG by SIS President, Bridget Burgess, at a ceremony on October 6, 2009. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, SIS is an independent, full-service broker/dealer and Registered Investment Advisory firm and is a subsidiary of Symetra Financial.
November 2009
Shoeboxes for the Homeless Project - Mililani Complex
The seven schools in Mililani conducted a service project called Shoeboxes for the Homeless in November. Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group sponsored this project and donated $1000 to the schools for participating. Students donated shoeboxes filled with items for the homeless. 1432 shoeboxes were collected from the 7 participating schools on November 17, 2009. HCAP (Honolulu Community Action Program) was the recipient of the shoeboxes and distributed the donations to needy families. HCAP is a nonprofit human service agency that is committed to alleviating the conditions of poverty on Oahy by promoting opportunities for the economically disadvantaged.
On Sunday, November 29, 2009, HCAP delivered 200 shoeboxes to the Once A Month Church at Haleiwa Beach Park. OAMC provides a church service under the coconut palms, entertainment, door prizes of shopping carts filled with groceries and bags of rice, and serves a delicious lunch for the homeless who come by bus from all over the island. Sue Quinn and Katy Perry from HCAP, along with Alan Chinen, Florence Chinen and Laraine Yasui from CAFG volunteered to serve lunch and distributed the shoeboxes which made the recipients very happy.
August 2009
2008 - 2009 Outstanding Educators
Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group is proud to announce that 6 clients were recipients of the Oceanic Time Warner Cable and Kama'aina Pizza Hut 2008-2009 Outstanding Educators Award.
- Julie Ramos, teacher at Campbell High, client of Cindy Tanouye
- Wayne Tokuhama, teacher at Aiea High, client of Lyle Uyeda
- Glenn Matsumoto, teacher at Kailua High, client of Lyle Uyeda
- Leslie Stewart, teacher at Kahuku Inter/High, client of Alexander Lau
- Sue Ann Lavarias, teacher at Mililani High, client of Alexander Lau
- Lane Yokoyama, teacher at Radford High, client of Alexander Lau
They were among the 23 selected for their inspired service to their students and academic communities.
January 2009
Hawaiian Airlines Employee of the Year2008
Congratulations to Larry Nagata, Hawaiian Airlines Employee of the Year for 2008. Larry was awarded with a trip to the Super Bowl in Arizona, tickets to a Mets game in New York and was also honored in the Merrie Monarch parade last year. Larry, and his wife Sandra, have been clients of Lyle Uyeda for 17 years and a longtime employee of Hawaiian Airlines.
June 10, 2009
Adult Education Teacher of the Year Award
Press Release: Source: Central Oahu Islander
Ted Enoki, client of Alexander Lau, was named one of seven Hawaii Adult Education Teachers of the Year. He was recognized for his "dedication to lifelong education and excellent contributions to community schools." He teaches in the competency-based high school diploma program at Wahiawa Community School for Adults. He is also a fourth grade teacher at Mililani Mauka Elementary School.
May 4 , 2009
Hawaii's Melissa Monette of Mililani Named One of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers
Press Release Source : Prudential Financial
Melissa Monette, 16, of Mililani was named one of America's top ten youth volunteers for 2009 in a ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. Melissa is the daughter of Chinen&Arinaga clients Michael & Anne Monette, Alan Kaneshiro's clients. She won a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award for her outstanding volunteer service. Selected from a field of close to 20,000 applicants across the country, she received a personal award of $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for the nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.
Melissa, a junior at Mililani High School, founded a nonprofit organization that has provided more than 13,000 pounds of fresh produce and canned goods to low-income senior citizens and homeless people over the past two years. Melissa became aware of poverty in her community by participating in church, school and Girl Scout programs to aid the needy. But the problem really hit home when her own grandmother turned to a food pantry for help and was denied assistance because she was not homeless. "It is very difficult and traumatic for (seniors) when they get turned away from nonprofit agencies distributing food because they are not poor enough to qualify," said Melissa.
After identifying places where low-income seniors live, Melissa arranged for staff members at local agencies to help deliver the food she would collect. Then she began looking for food donations. She asked hundreds of homeowners if she could harvest the excess fruits and vegetables from their yards and gardens; sent fliers to farms and supermarkets; asked schools and churches to sponsor canned-food drives; made presentations at neighborhood board meetings; and set up a website. Melissa recruited fellow students to help her collect and deliver the donations. In addition, she arranged for nutritionists to speak to senior citizens about healthy eating, and developed a monthly aerobic exercise program to help them stay in shape. "All it takes is one individual to provide the spark, and the power of one becomes the power of many," said Melissa.
April 25, 2009
Symetra Community Champion
Press Release:
On Saturday, April 25, 2009 at the Honolulu Country Club in Salt Lake, Randy Talbot, President and CEO of Symetra Financial Corporation, based in Bellevue, WA presented Linda Uehara with the 2009 Symetra Community Champion award. This national award celebrates those who have given a lifetime of volunteer service providing significant benefits to the community. Symetra asked agents across the country to nominate outstanding people in their community who work for the benefit of others and unbeknownst to Linda, Alan Chinen, President and CEO of Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group, Inc. nominated her. The presentation was a total surprise to Linda, who attended the annual Financial Fitness Fair sponsored by Chinen & Arinaga Financial Group, Inc.
Linda has spent her lifetime teaching youngsters, volunteering in the community and after retirement, has continued to dedicate her life to young people in our state. She began volunteering when she was a teenager growing up in Waipahu and credits her parents for teaching her about giving back to the community. In 2007, George W. Bush presented Linda with the President's Volunteer Service Award in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and in 2006 Linda received the HMSA Ola Pono Award for her work with the Hawaii Girls Court.
April 25, 2009
Financial Fitness Fair
What a great Financial Fitness Fair it was this year.
We started off by collecting 607 lbs of canned goods and $115 for the Hawaii Foodbank.
People enjoyed Suzanne Jones' presentation about the City & County's "Opala" Program. Suzanne is the recycling coordinator for the City & County of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services. Many left her session with a renewed interest in recycling and a vow to do their part to save Hawaii's environment.
Randy Talbot, CEO of Symetra Financial, spoke about how the unexpected termination from Safeco became an opportunity to form Symetra Financial. He ended his presentation with the announcement of Linda Uehara as one of the recipients of the Symetra's Champion award. In Linda's name, a check for $2,500 was presented to Alan Shinn, Executive Director of the Coalition for Drug Free Hawaii. Linda was nominated by Alan Chinen of Chinen&Arinaga Financial Group.
Dewitt Jones' presentation left many with a new view of life and attitude. Through his photographs and career story he showed us that we need to keep "raising the bar" in order to achieve our life's dreams and goals.
This year's Financial Fitness Fair was an astounding success according to the many attendees. According to Sharon Tamura, "Sign me & my husband up for next year. Is there a perpetual sign up sheet so I don't have to call? I'll schedule my trips around your fairs".
Even first timer, Pam Waki stated, "I thoroughly enjoyed my day - What wonderful speakers! Thank you for making this possible - wish I took advantage of your invitation sooner. I look forward to attending next year!"
Be sure to be a part of the highlight of the year. Sign up for the next Financial Fitness Fair!