June 16th – Father’s Day Breakfast Fundraiser

2024 Father’s Day Breakfast fundraiser lived up to its billing as “Hawaii’s largest drive through breakfast takeout,” and it was the best so far! Held on June 16, 2024 and serving over 2,700 breakfasts in two hours, it consisted of ono-licious fried rice, scrambled eggs, and Portuguese sausage. The reviews have all been positive. Here’s a sampling: “sooo delicious!!!” “awesome breakfast,” “Portuguese sausage was very good,” and “eggs were a winner.”

Planning for this event began months before. Ticket sales started in mid-April with Lions and CISs reaching out to family, friends, and colleagues as well as drumming up sales in front of Longs on Saturday mornings, and canvassing the Hawaii Kai neighborhoods together each Sunday morning, selling a total of over 3,200 tickets.

Kaiser High School cafeteria and parking lot were abuzz by 5:00 a.m. on Father’s Day. By that time, the rice was already being steamed and the cooks were deep in their tasks of making the food.

The team in the parking lot set up tents, tables, and cones for traffic control in preparation for the drive through.

Meanwhile the crew at the cafeteria were assigned to perform a multitude of tasks from plating the food to transporting the bentos to the parking lot. Team cooperation led to a smooth and efficient work flow. Back in the parking lot, now transformed into the biggest drive through in town, traffic controllers directed traffic, and customers were greeted by our enthusiastic Leona the Lion (aka Lion Shasta Yamada). Others collected tickets and handed out the breakfasts. Although the official start time for pickup was 6:30 a.m., one customer must have been so excited, he came at 6 a.m. and was the very first in line. He happily received his breakfast after a short wait.

Thanks to generous philanthropists, 166 meals were donated to the Institute for Human Services; Hawaii Kai Lions donated at least an additional 150 breakfasts. It was a very Happy Father’s Day indeed!

Hawaii Kai Lions, CISs, and volunteers: YOU ARE ROARSOME! Thank you for selling tickets, making donations, working on Father’s Day, and for contributing in any way you could to make this fundraiser a success.

Hawaii Kai Lions, CISs, and volunteers: YOU ARE ROARSOME!

Thank you for selling tickets, making donations, working on Father’s Day, and for contributing in any way you could to make this fundraiser a success. It is so gratifying to see so many people, including First VDGE Brudda Sean Benito from Hilo, dedicated to Lionism and to the Hawaii Kai Lions in particular. As a direct result of that commitment, Hawaii Kai Lions will be able to fund all its projects and add new ones, continuing the good work in the community. Mahalo to Christian, Rob, and Sonya who worked so hard to make the fantastic food. Thank you to Lion Shasta Yamada, who dressed as our Lion mascot and brought smiles to all who came through. A very special mahalo to Lion Tom Jones who handled all things related to the food, from ordering the right amount of ingredients to overseeing the food preparation and plating; to Lion Eric Kimura who managed all the man and woman power assignments; to Lion Eric Kvick who designed and built, with the help of Lion Ken Nishibun, the transport boxes and directed the transport process; to Lion Jeanne Alices who managed all the finances; and finally to Lion Ken who was the driving force, guiding light, and the real breakfast boss.