Mary Matayoshi Epitomizes the Spirit of Volunteerism

Mary Matayoshi is on a voyage – to strengthen Hawaiian society through volunteerism.

Mary is the dynamo Executive Director of Volunteer Resource Center of Hawaii (www.vrchawaii.org), a grantee of the Foundation. Motivated by a love of helping others, Mary developed VRCH as both a grassroots and model community partnership with the support of Windward Community College and many other government, corporate and community leaders.

“We needed a statewide infrastructure to maximize the impact of volunteers in Hawaii,” she says.

Under Mary’s direction, VRCH promotes and supports an effective network of community resources and volunteer services. It offers a wide range of educational and training programs in areas such as volunteerism, disaster preparedness, liability and risk management, and conference planning. The organization offers a Certificate in Volunteer Management through Windward Community College, and hosts an international social work seminar, which is co-sponsored by the Univers Foundation (www.univers.or.jp).

Underpinning all its work is a core set of values that Mary says are essential to building relationships and staying focused on what will make a measurable impact on local communities.

“We believe in stewardship, that volunteerism is a necessity for the well being of our community,” she asserts. “We can and we must do better at respecting differences and joining together to make our communities stronger, safer and healthier.”

Up at 4:00 a.m. each morning, and always smiling, Mary epitomizes the model volunteer and community organizer, working tirelessly both professionally and through volunteering for many organizations. She and her husband, former Big Island Mayor Herbert Matayoshi, have passed down this important legacy to their four children and 11 grandchildren. Please join the Foundation in honoring Mary's accomplishments! YEA Mary!!