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ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS

A RESOLUTION

No. 2018 – 4

HONORING VICTOR KAIWI PANG FOR HIS DEDICATION AND SERVICE TO NATIVE HAWAIIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (NHPI) COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE CONTINENT, HAWAI‘I, AND ALASKA

WHEREAS, Victor Michael Kaiwi Aki-Pang, was born in Wailuku, Maui to Peter Quon Cheu Aki-Pang and Mary Akiona on January 2, 1938, and passed away on April 5, 2018, at home in Pālolo Valley, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, Kaiwi attended St. Anthony School, served as Class President of the Class 1956, and then graduated from University of Redlands in 1980; and

WHEREAS, after serving two years in the United States Army, he moved to California to begin working with North American Space, that became Rockwell International, now Boeing Aerospace, as an Avionics Quality Manager on the Teal Ruby, Saturn, Apollo, Space Lab, and the Shuttle Colombia projects, and retired from Boeing in 1995; and

WHEREAS, since 1982, he had been a lifetime member of ‘Āinahau o Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club (AOKHCC) served as Pelekikena, Hope Pelekikena, Pu‘ukū, on a variety of kōmike projects such as the annual ho‘olaule‘a and scholarship ‘aha ‘āina, and he was the founder of the 22-year running annual ‘Ohana Retreat, a weekend intensive, Hawaiian immersion program for third and fourth generation ‘ohana at University of California, Irvine; and

WHEREAS, as a charter member of AOKHCC, he was an active member of its award-winning choral group, and was an enthusiastic nā hana lima no‘eau artisan presenting nā mea Hawai‘i throughout Southern California with the Los Angeles Arts Commission, California Arts Council, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, serving local city and county, regional, and international audiences; and

WHEREAS, his outreach and collaboration with other Pacific Islanders started in 1990 with the formation of the Pacific Islander Community Council (PICC) which is composed of Polynesians, Micronesians, and Melanesians in Los Angeles/Orange Counties, and he served as board chair and president, and in partnership with Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department sponsored the first Pacific Islander Festival in Wilmington, California, that gathered the Pacific Islander communities annually for 20 years; and

WHEREAS, Victor was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1990, and was a strong advocate for cancer awareness, education and prevention screening, and upon surviving a course of radiation and chemo, he continued his Hawaiian Civic Club leadership kuleana with five other Hawaiian Civic Clubs to begin the work of the Mainland Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and served as its founding Pelekikena; and

WHEREAS, as a cancer survivor, in 1998, he launched his policy and advocacy work for his Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities as a voice on the United States Census Racial Ethnic Advisory Committee (REAC, 1990-2000) advocating for disaggregated NHPI data to promote greater awareness and access for health equity, including greater cultural and linguistic services for his small, often overlooked community disproportionately affected by health disparities, and served as Susan G. Komen, Orange County Affiliate volunteer, Komen National KoMen Advisory Council as a male breast cancer survivor; and

WHEREAS, retired, in 2003, he and other leaders from the NHPI faith and community-based groups in Los Angeles and Orange Counties founded the Pacific Islander Health Partnership (PIHP), and he served as board chair and chief executive officer serving the indigenous NHPI communities promoting health and wellbeing; building island community capacity for health through education, scholarship, training, research and advocacy to achieve health equity and reduce health disparities disproportionately affecting indigenous Pacific Islanders as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, through improving access to quality cultural-linguistic relevant healthcare and services; and

WHEREAS, in 2003, with PIHP, he founded the Orange County Aloha Seniors, serving a diverse ethnic group of over 100 seniors, including many kama‘āina from Los Angeles and Orange Counties who continue to meet twice a week as “volunteer kūpuna helping kūpuna” with mele and hula, ‘ukulele, nā mea Hawai‘i crafts, and kūpuna issues and services; and

WHEREAS, he served nā kūpuna on several community councils, advisory boards partnering with California State University at Fullerton Gerontology Institute, AmeriCorp Working to Enhance the Care and Resources for Elders (WECARE), and Consortium for Asian and Pacific Islander Elders (CAPIE) to address cultural-linguistic senior care and services, nutrition, and housing for Los Angeles and Orange Counties seniors; and

WHEREAS, as chair, advisor, and trainer in partnership of University of Hawai‘i Department of Native Hawaiian Health, Center for Native and Pacific Health Disparities Research, California State University at Fullerton’s Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (WINCART), Claremont Graduate University, Global and Community Health, and through PIHP served thousands of Pacific Islanders, throughout Southern California, across the continent, Alaska, and throughout Pacific Island nations, with cultural-linguistic resources with the expertise of PIHP’s community educators with Pacific Islander Navigators (PINs); and

WHEREAS, as Pelekikena of the Mainland Council, on invitation from Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS), the Southern California Hawaiian-Native American-Maori-Rapa Nui communities collaborated on the weeklong Polynesian Voyaging Traditions of July 1995, bringing PVS-NASA-Smithsonian Institute-UCLA Rapa Nui and the NHPI communities together in Long Beach, part of a ten-city Hōkūle‘a visit along the west coast, and sponsored the Queen’s 100-year Commemoration at Loyola Marymount University (LMU), and hosted three Hawaiian Self-Determination Community Regional Forums at LMU in 1992; and

WHEREAS, in partnership with other Southern California HCCs began ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i sessions led by mānaleo Kupuna ‘Anakē Maryann Kauluwehi Kalama, AOKHCC founder, and co-hosted the He Huli‘au Conference “Turning Point Eliminating Cardiometabolic Disparities in Native and Pacific Peoples” in Costa Mesa, California in 2008; and

WHEREAS, Kaiwi served as a Continental Delegate to the ‘Aha Hawai‘i ‘Ōiwi; and

 

WHEREAS, Kaiwi served on the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum Board from 2006 to 2012, and as Vice President increased national awareness for NHPI health disparities and access to equitable health care resources and linguistic services; and

WHEREAS, his leadership provided mentoring, community partnership and gatherings in 2009 California statewide NHPI Youth Leadership Summit “Empowering a Healthy Generations” at CSU Dominguez Hills, Physical Activity for PI Youth, CSUF, from 2007 to 2009, community and family walk-a-thon at CSUF, and current annual Pacific Islander Student Association (PISA) for Health annual health fair, and a screening and fitness event at UCLA; and

WHEREAS, Kaiwi has been recognized for his dedication and commitment to serve the NHPI communities as recipient for the City of Gardena “community service” award in 1993, for the City of Huntington Beach in 2007, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Kukui Lama Kū, 2012, Ke Po‘okela o Kūhiō Award in 1994 and 1999, Pualeilani Award in 1997 and 2017, Orange Council Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA) “Men’s Health Advocate” in 2001 and Pioneer 2008, Inter Cultural Cancer Council HOPE Award in 2004; Ali‘i Leadership in 2007, Papa Ola Lōkahi Dr. Ka‘ōnohi Award “contribution to health, healing, wellness of Native Hawaiians and their families” in 2011, and American Cancer Society Dr. Harold Freeman in 2012; and

WHEREAS, Kaiwi is survived by his wife of 51 years, Jane Ka‘ala Mock, sons Benton Keali‘ikiamoku, Edmund Kamekona (Wendy Dabling), mo‘opuna Kiana, Makena, Kālia, Kalani, sisters Mei Meilou-Santos, Leah Williams, and brother Randy Saito.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 59th Annual Convention in Kalapaki, Kauaʻi, in the malama of Welehu and the rising of ʻOlepau, this 17th day of November 2018, honoring Victor Kaiwi Pang for his dedication and long service to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities across the continent, Hawai‘i, and Alaska; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Pang ‘ohana, Pelekikena of ‘Āinahau O Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club, Pelekikena of the Mainland Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, the Chair/CEO of Pacific Island Health Partnership, PIHP Aloha Seniors, as well as the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, all County Mayors.

The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of Welehu and the rising of ‘Olepau on the 17th day of November 2018, at the 59th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Kalapaki, Kaua‘i.

Annelle C. Amaral, President