HONOLULU - Bert Kobayashi, Jr., president of `Ahahui Koa Anuenue since 2003, will be honored with the 2004-05 Charles Ushijima Award prior to the UH baseball game against Fresno State on Friday, May 13, at Les Murakami Stadium.
Kobayashi, a member of `Ahahui Koa Anuenue for the past four years, has guided the organization in developing, leading, finalizing, and obtaining approval for a restructured membership and benefit plan, whose goal is $5 million per year for athletic scholarships. During his tenure, `Ahahui Koa Anuenue has doubled the annual scholarship contribution to the Athletic Department from $600,000 in 2001 to over $1.2 million in 2004.
Also, in an effort to revitalize `Ahahui Koa Anuenue, Kobayashi broadened the Board to forty (40) Directors, limited length of service to six (6) consecutive years, limited term limits of the Officers to two (2) terms, and refined the Bylaws to better align `Ahahui Koa Anuenue's and the Athletic Department's mission.
The Charles Ushijima Award is given to the volunteer who has given his or her support unselfishly to further advance the University of Hawai`i Athletics program and whose efforts have helped the student-athletes to achieve their goals. Originally entitled the Rainbow Service Award, the award is now named after its first recipient, the late Charlie Ushijima, who was responsible for the building of our first on-campus baseball stadium in addition to countless hours of volunteer work as president of the UH booster club for baseball.
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