Table of Contents
- Lighting the Way for Generations to Come: Reimagined Nu‘uanu Y
- Safety Around Water: A Legacy of Lifesaving
- Where Young People Grow, Belong, and Thrive
- Helping Young People Find Their Way
- Making Memories That Last a Lifetime
- A Place to Belong at Every Age
- Strengthening Community, Here and Beyond
- A Legacy of Adventure, Learning, and Giving Back
- In Memoriam: Walter J. Laskey
Your Light Shines the Way
Mahalo for being part of our YMCA ‘ohana.
Every person carries a light inside them.
Sometimes it shines brightly. Sometimes it’s just a flicker.
But at the YMCA of Honolulu, we believe that light is always there.
Every day, in our Ys, classrooms, camps, and community spaces across our islands, we meet people at every stage of life. Some arrive hopeful. Some arrive overwhelmed. Some simply need someone to walk beside them until they find their footing again.
With your support, that happens every day.
- A toddler takes their first steps into learning while a parent begins to imagine a brighter future.
- A teen struggling quietly with anxiety, depression, or self-doubt finds belonging and a trusted adult who reminds them they matter.
- A young adult starts a first job and gains more than a paycheck. They begin building confidence, responsibility, and purpose.
- A kūpuna facing loneliness or loss finds friendship, movement, nourishment, and a place to belong.
- A child learns life-saving water safety skills because someone chose to turn unimaginable loss into hope for other families.
- A family stretched by busy schedules, financial pressure, or the demands of everyday life finds space to reconnect and simply enjoy being together again.
This is the work of the YMCA.
In 2025, your generosity helped the YMCA strengthen lives across our islands. You helped expand youth mental health support, early learning, child care, teen leadership opportunities, water safety programs, and healthy aging programs that keep kūpuna active and connected.
Throughout this report, you will see the impact of that support. Behind every number is a person. Behind every program is a story of progress, hope, or renewal.
- One spark becomes strength.
- Potential becomes purpose.
- Opportunity becomes achievement.
Mahalo nui loa for helping the YMCA shine a brighter path for our community.
WALTER F. THOEMMES III
President & CEO
ARNOLD MARTINES
Chair
Board of Directors
Lighting the Way for Generations to Come: Reimagined Nu‘uanu Y
A bold vision, years in the making, began to take meaningful shape in 2025.
The YMCA of Honolulu officially launched plans to reimagine and redevelop its flagship Nu‘uanu YMCA into a modern, multi-level community hub designed to meet some of our island’s most pressing needs.
Originally dedicated in 1963, the Nu‘uanu YMCA has served generations of keiki, teens, families, adults, and kūpuna through health and wellness programs, aquatics, youth development, and community connection. Now, that legacy is inspiring a bold new future.
Informed by community listening, feasibility studies, and years of planning, the reimagined Nu‘uanu YMCA is envisioned as far more than a new building. It is a transformational investment in community well-being.
Early concepts include modern health and wellness spaces, flexible multi-use program areas, early learning opportunities, youth and teen development spaces, and welcoming gathering places designed to strengthen connection across generations. The long-term vision also includes affordable housing, helping address one of our island’s most urgent challenges while advancing family stability and community resilience.
In 2025, that vision gained extraordinary momentum through transformational philanthropy.
The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation made the largest private gift in YMCA of Honolulu history with a transformational $5 million investment to help launch this next chapter.
The David C. Ai Charitable Trust committed a transformational $3 million gift, honoring a family whose YMCA legacy stretches back more than a century to the founding of the original Nu‘uanu YMCA as the world’s first racially integrated YMCA.
Nan, Inc. and Nan Shin invested $1 million in honor of former YMCA CEO Don Anderson, recognizing a legacy of leadership, service, and community impact.
Hawai‘i State Federal Credit Union, together with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, committed $300,000 to create the future Intergenerational Room, a space designed to bring keiki, teens, families, and kūpuna together in meaningful connection.
A generous $425,000 combined gift from the Central Pacific Bank Foundation, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, and YMCA of Honolulu Board Chair Arnold Martines and his wife, Thuy, is helping bring the future Community Room to life, a welcoming space where neighbors, nonprofits, community organizations, and changemakers can come together to collaborate and strengthen the fabric of Hawai‘i.
Together, these visionary investments are helping light the way toward a stronger, more inclusive future for our island.
Safety Around Water: A Legacy of Lifesaving
Other News Coverage:
For more than a century, the YMCA has helped families stay safe in and around water, pioneering group swim lessons in 1909 and launching some of the nation’s earliest organized lifeguard training programs.
In Hawai‘i, where drowning remains the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 15, water safety isn’t simply a program—it’s a responsibility.
In 2025, support from private donors, the Hawai‘i State Department of Health, and the CDC Foundation helped expand the YMCA’s Safety Around Water program, providing free life-saving water safety education for keiki through Y branches and school partnerships.
In just five lessons, children with little or no water experience learn essential survival skills, including how to float, breathe, reach safety, and safely exit the water. The YMCA also promotes drowning prevention through public awareness campaigns like Phones Down, Eyes Up and Reach, Throw, Don’t Go, reminding caregivers that active supervision and safe rescue techniques save lives.
Because drowning is preventable.
Juliette’s Light Still Saves Lives
What began as unimaginable heartbreak became a powerful legacy of hope.
After the tragic drowning of 3-year-old Juliette Ortega, her family chose to honor her life by helping protect other children through water safety education.
That legacy reached Hawai‘i in 2025, when Juliette’s aunt and uncle, Debbie and Andy Howard, donated $13,000 to help expand the YMCA of Honolulu’s Safety Around Water program.
Their gift is helping provide free water safety lessons for local keiki, ensuring more children gain the skills and confidence to survive an unexpected water emergency.
Today, Juliette’s light lives on in every child who learns how to stay safe in and around water.
Where Young People Grow, Belong, and Thrive
From preschool classrooms to enrichment programs, camps, and leadership opportunities, the YMCA helps young people grow in confidence, curiosity, and connection.
New Beginnings at Nu‘uanu Y
This year, the YMCA expanded early learning opportunities with a new part-time Early Learning program at the Nu‘uanu Y. Combined with our preschool and Early Learning programs across Leeward, Pali-Nu‘uanu, and Mililani, more keiki have access to safe, nurturing environments where they can learn, grow, and prepare for kindergarten success.
Bridging Generations
One inspiring conversation sparked something special. Our first Intergenerational Fall Day Camp brought keiki and kūpuna together for two joyful days of shared learning at 15 Craigside. From taiko and Bon dancing to bingo, crafts, and laughter, both generations discovered meaningful connection and plenty of common ground.
Day Camps with Purpose
Y Day Camps continued to deliver unforgettable fun while building skills that last beyond summer. Campers practiced emotional resilience through our new Second Step curriculum, received weekly water safety instruction, and at designated sites, enjoyed free nutritious meals through the USDA Summer Food Service Program.
Expanding Youth Opportunities
From model planes to hip-hop, STEM to sports, the YMCA continues to evolve to meet the interests and needs of today’s youth while staying rooted in our mission to help every young person thrive.
Leadership in Youth Development
Our youth programs are strengthened by visionary leaders who continue to innovate, advocate, and expand opportunities for keiki and families across our island.
Keeping Young People Safe
Creating safe, supportive spaces for youth remains one of the YMCA’s highest priorities. In 2025, we strengthened our child protection efforts through Praesidium accreditation and the national Five Days of Action campaign, helping raise awareness about abuse prevention and empowering adults to Know. See. Respond.
Helping Young People Find Their Way
Y Teen Club & Leadership Programs
More than 1,200 middle and high school students participated in YMCA teen leadership, service-learning, college readiness, and youth development programs in 2025. Thanks to the David C. Ai Charitable Trust, 800 teens received free summer memberships, connecting them to positive mentors, new opportunities, and a place where they belong.
Mental Health, Healing & Recovery
The YMCA supported 5,062 youth through mental health and wellness programs across Hawai‘i. Through school-based services, Maui wildfire resilience support, and substance use prevention and treatment programs, young people found support, built resilience, and connected to care when they needed it most.
On Kaua‘i, we expanded access to critical substance abuse treatment services through the Ka Ulu I Ka Pono Academy, creating new pathways toward healing and recovery for youth and families.
Article: Ka Ulu I Ka Pono Academy
College, Careers & Future Pathways
For many teens, college can feel out of reach. College Camp helps young people see higher education as possible and a future within their reach.
For young adults, the YMCA helps open doors to education, employment, and greater independence.
Making Memories That Last a Lifetime
Families need places to reconnect, unplug, and simply enjoy time together and the YMCA is proud to create those moments.
In 2025, YMCA Camp Erdman expanded family camp experiences, beachfront rentals, and opportunities for families to create unforgettable memories surrounded by the natural beauty of our North Shore. Whether gathering around a campfire, exploring the shoreline, or waking up just steps from the ocean, Camp Erdman continues to be a place where family traditions begin.
Community connection also came alive through Camp Erdman Community Day, welcoming families to experience the magic of camp together through fun activities, exploration, and shared adventure.
Across our island, Healthy Kids Day brought thousands of keiki and families together for one of the YMCA’s most joyful annual celebrations, filled with active play, hands-on experiences, wellness activities, and opportunities for families to discover healthy ways to grow together.
A Place to Belong at Every Age
For thousands of kūpuna, the YMCA is far more than a place to exercise. It is a place to belong.
In 2025, the YMCA more than doubled the number of kūpuna served, growing from 4,894 to 8,500 older adults across our island.
PBS Hawai‘i Insights on Kūpuna ⏵
Through Kūpuna Food and Fun, the YMCA provided more than 42,000 nutritious meals across six sites, paired with wellness activities, social connection, and workshops designed to help older adults stay healthy, engaged, and independent.
The impact goes beyond services. Nearly 100 percent of participating kūpuna reported feeling a stronger sense of belonging and connection.
At the YMCA, kūpuna are not simply participants. They are teachers, mentors, and community builders, sharing talents like mahjong, gardening, cooking, cultural traditions, and even helping one another navigate technology.
Thanks to generous donor and grant support, kūpuna are also gaining strength, mobility, balance, and confidence through Enhance®Fitness, a free, nationally recognized evidence-based program proven to improve physical function and reduce fall risk. As the program grows, the YMCA is expanding it beyond our branches into community centers, housing complexes, and neighborhood gathering spaces—bringing healthy aging support directly to kūpuna where they are.
Because healthy aging is about more than physical health. It is about purpose, friendship, movement, and knowing you belong.
Strengthening Community, Here and Beyond
Strong communities are built when people show up for one another.
Annual Campaign
In 2025, generous donors and supporters helped the YMCA surpass our Annual Campaign goal, raising more than $1.2 million to ensure no one is turned away from life-changing programs due to financial need.
Advocating on the Hill and at Home
The YMCA’s impact extends beyond our programs and into the policies that strengthen communities.
In 2025, YMCA of Honolulu joined Maui Family YMCA, Island of Hawai‘i YMCA, and our teen Youth Advocate Kevin in Washington, D.C. for National Advocacy Days, where we met with Hawai‘i’s congressional delegation to advocate for affordable childcare, youth mental health, drowning prevention, chronic disease prevention, kūpuna wellness, and stronger community resources.
Closer to home, we joined Neighbor Island YMCA leaders and Dole Middle School students at the Hawai‘i State Capitol to advocate for continued funding for youth mental health and other critical services for local families.
A Legacy of Aloha
Few people embody the spirit of the YMCA quite like Aunty Carolee Nishi.
What began in 1968 as a simple request to help twelve children after school became a 57-year legacy of cultural education, mentorship, and aloha.
When then Nu‘uanu Y Executive Director Bob Masuda asked Aunty Carolee to help, she said yes and called on beloved cultural leaders including Aunty Genoa Keawe and Kawai Cockett to help teach hula and ‘ukulele. That simple act of service grew into Hula Hui O Kapunahala, a program that has shaped generations of children and families.
But Aunty Carolee taught far more than song and dance.
Through Hawaiian values, culture, discipline, belonging, and ha‘awi—the joy of giving without expectation—she inspired thousands of young people to believe in themselves, honor their kūpuna, and serve others with love.
Many of her former students and their parents became YMCA volunteers, mentors, and teachers themselves, carrying her aloha forward for the next generation.
Her story reminds us that sometimes the most extraordinary legacies begin with simply saying yes.
Heritage Club 2025
The Heritage Club celebrates those who’ve made a planned gift to the YMCA, ensuring its mission lives on for generations through bequests, insurance designations, and other legacy contributions.
A Legacy of Adventure, Learning, and Giving Back
Irvin “ID” and Bobbye Blume lived lives defined by curiosity, service, and a deep appreciation for community. Longtime Honolulu residents, they embraced Hawai‘i as home and spent decades contributing to the people and places they loved.
ID was a successful entrepreneur, real estate investor, and former First Lieutenant in the United States Marines. Bobbye devoted more than 30 years to education, inspiring students through her passion for literature and lifelong learning.
Together, they shared a spirit of adventure. As avid sailors, they circled the globe multiple times, while ID remained active in marathons and Ironman competitions well into his seventies. Bobbye enjoyed arts, crafts, hula, and celebrating Hawai‘i’s rich culture.
The YMCA of Honolulu became an important part of their lives, providing opportunities to stay active, connected, and engaged in the community. As regular participants at the Central YMCA, they found friendship, wellness, and a sense of belonging.
Through a generous estate gift to the YMCA, the Blumes’ commitment to community will continue to benefit local families, keiki, and kūpuna for generations to come. Their story is a reminder that a life well lived is measured not only by what we accomplish, but by what we leave behind.
Mahalo to the Blume ‘ohana for this meaningful gift and lasting legacy.
In Memoriam: Walter J. Laskey
October 3, 1941 – May 2, 2025
The YMCA of Honolulu remembers with deep gratitude and aloha our longtime friend, leader, and Board Director Emeritus, Walter J. Laskey, whose unwavering commitment to strengthening our community touched countless lives.
Walter served on the YMCA of Honolulu Board of Directors from 1996 to 2011 and remained involved as a Board Director Emeritus. Throughout his years of service, he was a passionate advocate for the YMCA's mission, generously sharing his leadership, wisdom, and extensive network in support of the Annual Campaign. He believed deeply in investing in people and inspired many friends and colleagues to join him in supporting the Y.
A decorated U.S. Navy veteran, respected financial executive, and former Vice Chairman of Bank of Hawai‘i, Walter led with integrity, humility, and a genuine desire to serve others. Those who knew him will remember not only his professional accomplishments, but also his kindness, encouragement, and devotion to his family and community.
Walter's final gift to the YMCA reflected his lifelong commitment to young people. His generosity helped provide lighting for the outdoor basketball court at the Wai‘anae YMCA, creating a safe space for youth to gather and play into the evening. His support also expanded access to youth mental health services, helping young people receive the care they need to thrive.
Walter's legacy lives on through the lives he touched and the opportunities he created for generations of keiki and families. We are deeply grateful for his many years of service, generous philanthropy, and steadfast belief in the YMCA's mission.
To the entire Laskey ‘ohana, we extend our heartfelt condolences and mahalo for sharing Walter with our YMCA community. He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.
