Champions help to heal communities — Part 2
by Sharon Higa | Jan. 15, 2025
The HEI Charitable Foundation annually recognizes six outstanding employee volunteers with a $1,000 donation awarded to a nonprofit organization of their choice. The 2024 Kokua Community Service Champions are all leaders with a desire to serve and through giving back are helping bridge the gap so communities can heal and thrive. I’m pleased to introduce this year’s honorees and their selected nonprofits through a series of blogs dedicated to each individual champion.
Kelii Opulauoho, manager, Organizational Development & Learning
Promoting inclusivity is at the heart of our next champion Kelii Opulauoho, whose passion and leadership supporting marginalized groups overlap both professionally and personally.
At Hawaiian Electric, Kelii brings his skillset in human resources to developing the company’s workforce talent and is an active volunteer supporting a wide range of causes while also serving as an executive committee member of Pride Power, an employee resource group which exists to ensure safety, increase visibility, enable authenticity and foster belonging for our LGBTQ+ community.
In selecting Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center, Kuaʻana Project — Transgender Service Program for the HEICF donation, Kelii said transgender individuals face the highest risk of violence.
“Supporting transgender rights is imperative because despite significant progress for sexually marginalized groups (lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals), transgender and gender non-conforming people still face substantial stigma and lack of acceptance from friends and family,” said Kelii. “They often lack explicit protections against discrimination, making it difficult for them to feel safe in their workplaces, public spaces, and daily lives.”
According to Maddalynn Sesepasara, Kuaʻana Project Manager, “The funds will go towards our Emergency Assistance Program, which is mostly used by our elders and houseless folks who are struggling to survive or provide a roof over their heads and can’t afford to pay for meds, groceries, clothes for an interview, hygiene supplies and so on.”
The list of needs includes tents and camping gear for those that are houseless and lost everything due to a sweep. The program will help these individuals start over and pay for some of those supplies. “It’s a great program that our clients appreciate and access a lot,” said Maddalynn. “Thank you so much for the donation, we will make good use of it!”
Through Hawaiian Electric’s employee resource group, Kelii organized and moderated a panel of local executives as a way of highlighting LGBTQ+ representation in leadership roles. He also led collaborative programming between the company’s Hawaiian culture employee resource group to feature LGBTQ+ through the lens of Native Hawaiian culture and history. “In addition to Kelii as Zumba instructor, we did a LGBTQ+ competency training for his department for PRIDE month and hope to do more with the company,” added Maddalynn.
“People are simply striving to live authentically, and I am committed to supporting them and all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression, in any way I can, including supporting the Kuaʻana Project Transgender Service Program at HHHRC,” said Kelii.
A Dartmouth College graduate, Kelii’s leadership serving on its alumni association, Hawaiʻi Club and LGBTQ+ alumni association among other committees has significantly strengthened bonds among Dartmouth alumni by promoting inclusivity and increasing Native Hawaiian representation at the college. In addition, Kelii leads the policy committee for Hawaiian Electric’s family caregiving employee resource group which provides a safe space for employees to share and connect over similar caregiving experiences.
Sharon Higa is a senior communications consultant at Hawaiian Electric.
