By The Way

The Centennial Gala Celebration to be held on November 17 will be a special part of the City and County of Honolulu’s 100th birthday celebration. One hundred individuals that made long-lasting contributions to the city over the past 100 years will be recognized in memorable fashion. The event will take place on Thurs., Nov. 17, from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel & Resort Ballroom. Tickets are still available. Call 275-3030, or visit www.honolulupride.com for a reservation form. Submit table reservations to cha@tihati.com. The Gala will feature live entertainment by some of Hawaii’s best performers. Headlining the evening’s entertainment will be the multi-talented Willy K. His unique guitar technique and stunning voice will amaze event-goers. Guests are in for a special treat as the Society of Seven LV and Jasmine Trias hit center stage for their debut performance together. Also performing will be the Royal Hawaiian Band with Nina Keali‘iwahamana, Azure McCall and Trio, and The Drifters.

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Personalized baseball trading cards bearing the official Little League World Series logo were all the rage at last month’s “Heroes Homecoming” party in Ewa Beach. The cards, produced by Ocean Pointe developer, Haseko, were unveiled to the West Oahu Little League team at the party. Hundreds attended the ohana-style celebration at the Boys & Girls Hale Pona Ewa Beach Clubhouse and thousands lined the “Heroes Homecoming” parade route earlier that day. Children were invited to shake hands with their heroes and collect all twelve autographed cards.

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Oahu’s poorest children are rich in friends they’ve never met. Hundreds – perhaps thousands – of generous shoppers, community-minded retailers and enthusiastic volunteers supported Waikiki Health Center’s just-concluded Back-to-School Campaign, garnering a record $23,708 that will go toward immunizations, physical exams and general medical care for disadvantaged children. Safeway Foundation gave the fundraiser a shot in the arm with a generous sponsorship gift of $10,000. Canisters displayed in 12 Safeway stores collected another $4,139. Other gifts included $1,000 each from Hawaii Medical Service Association, AlohaCare and Kmart Hawaii. Shoppers from Kahala to Kahaluu dropped an additional $6,569 in loose change and crisp dollars into waiting canisters. In all, 330 canisters were displayed by 70 retailers at 156 locations.

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To help celebrate American Savings Bank’s 80th anniversary, employees around the state volunteered their time this summer to help their communities. From July through September, more than 80 employee volunteer teams completed school beautification and improvement projects under the bank’s “Planting 80 Seeds of Service” anniversary program. More than 500 employees, family and friends volunteered nearly 2,500 hours for local public, private, and charter schools on all islands across the state. The program is the idea of residential loan officer Vianne Tabata.

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The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a $100,000 investment to the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs, Honolulu, Hawaii. The investment will help develop a study to improve Hawaii’s fishery and seafood industries.

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The men’s team from Honolulu representing the USTA Hawaii Section captured the national title at the USA League Tennis 3.5 Adult National Championships held at Randolph Tennis Center in Tucson, Ariz. The team is captained by Ryan Perreira and teammates include Russ Kadooka, Benny Neumann, Byung-Ki Choi, Bernard Duarte, Grant Migita, Mark Yoshizu, Brian Hew, Chris Dang, Darin Kamiya, Naomi Yoshimura, Donn Bigelow, Justin McOuat, Yoh Kawanami, Thien Andy Ton and Matthew Chang.