November 2024 Gleanings
Don't forget to sign up for the Torch of Light luncheon with this year's winner, retired Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Foley. In addition to his stellar work on ethics and transparency bills after leaving the judgeship, he also made a mark for himself before becoming a judge as the attorney who won the first American case in which gay couples sued a state for the right to marry. You can find the link to sign up at www.bigislandpressclub.org.
You'll also have the opportunity to vote on a new slate of BIPC officers, including some fresh new faces!
Have news to share? Just email Gleanings editor Nancy Cook Lauer at nclauer@gmail.com for inclusion in an upcoming issue.
Next Meeting: 9 a.m. Nov. 9 via Zoom. Email President Tiffany Edwards Hunt at newswoman@mac.com for a link.
11:30a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 14
Pueo's Osteria
Waikoloa Village
Retired Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Foley is the recipient of the Big Island Press Club's annual meritorious Torch of Light Award. After a series of federal indictments of public officials at all levels of Hawai‘i government, House Speaker Scott Saiki convened a special commission chaired by Foley that produced a collection of bills aimed at increasing transparency and stemming corruption.
Message from the President
Aloha! Im writing this message knowing that this may be among my last communications before our Dec. 14 Torch of Light luncheon in which, among other things, we will elect a new board for the coming year. venture.
I am on the slate of proposed officers for the coming year, so essentially this is an election pitch for my proposed presidency. What you will notice is, among the proposed list of officers for 2025, we have a few new faces. I am so grateful we have found a couple of people who believe in us as much as they do that they have a willingness to serve. Volunteerism is a noble venture.
I think that we, as a club, have done a lot of expansion in recent years, and we have had a lot of club exposure. Thanks to our most recent president, Michael Phillips, we introduced the club to a different clientele, namely the business community. With our online auction that has helped to increase our scholarship foundation coffers and, with our recent mayoral forum, we have put the word out that we are very much a relevant club with a worthwhile mission. Shout out to our treasurer, Bob, for his sweat equity in ensuring we had a successful mayoral forum. We showed that we are very much dialed in to island politics by asking the mayoral candidates tough questions to be aired on Livestream video and the good old fashioned radio.
What I have been contemplating, though, is that, in spite of our expansiveness, we pretty much have the same pool of people, with the exception of a couple of new faces, who want to commit to serving on the board and planning the events that we have been putting on throughout the year.
We really do try to engage our membership and encourage people to help us help the club. But, for whatever reason, the volunteerism is limited. To be candid, we need to guard against burning out those of us staying committed to the board. It’s much needed for the club’s sustainability for us to go into contraction mode. We must spend this coming year really focusing on our monthly meetings and on the perennial projects that are considered our club cornerstones. We need to just focus on doing those things well, and not try to fill our plates with too much more.
If you decide you want me to serve as your president for 2025, my focus will be on keeping our foundation strong. We will, of course, have a Scholarship Committee that seeks out funds to build our foundation coffers and we will support collegiate journalists that convince us in their applications that their pursuits are in line with our ideals. But trying to have an Events Committee that plans for things beyond our typical scholarship dinner in May and our Torch of Light luncheon in December, well, that’s going to require volunteers beyond those at the board level, and we just don’t have that for whatever reason.
I like to say, “It takes a village to make a village.” Our host culture has a saying, “Many hands make light work.” Unfortunately, we don’t have that many hands in our village that are lending their hands. That statement is less judgment than it is a matter of fact. We want to ensure that we don’t spread ourselves too thin, in order to preserve our club. Without board members volunteering to keep this club going, without members renewing their membership, we do not have a club.
So, all that being said, I hope you appreciate me being frank with you and I also hope that you will understand when we aren’t constantly trying to think of something new to plan. We welcome our members to step up and plan newsmaker luncheons or cocktail mixers, or whatever you may envision at helps to raise awareness about the club and our mission. If not, just know that your membership in this club is going toward the basic tenets: protecting the public’s right to know as government watchdogs and supporting budding collegiate journalists.
Mahalo for your willingness to support these very worthwhile endeavors. We appreciate your membership and we recognize life is busy. Mahalo for doing what you can do with the spare time, energy, and resources you have. Mahalo for supporting this historic club.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Tiffany Edwards Hunt
2024 Big Island Press Club Board
Please feel free to contact any board members with your suggestions, or if you wish to volunteer!
President: Tiffany Edwards Hunt, former journalist, middle school teacher
newswoman@mac.com
Vice President: John Burnett, journalist, Tribune-Herald <jburnett@hawaiitribuneherald.
com>
Treasurer: Bob Duerr, filmmaker and journalist, Hawaii Fishing News <surf77@me.com>
Secretary: Nancy Cook Lauer, retired journalist, blogger www.allhawaiinews.com
<nclauer@gmail.com>
Director: Ross Wilson, PR, Current Events rossw@current-events.com
Director: Royelen Lee Boykie, retired digital strategist and fundraiser
<Royelen@bigislandpressclub.org>
Director: Patsy Iwasaki, professor, University of Hawaii-Hilo
<piwasaki@hawaii.edu>
Director: Jim Wilson, retired publisher, Hawaii Tribune-Herald jimwilsonvolcanocottage@gmail.com
Immediate Past President: Michael Phillips, meteorologist & earth science news reporter mphillips@weatherboy.com
