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Looking out for one another – it's what we do in Volcano

At the annual meeting of the Volcano Community Association last month, representatives of nearly a dozen groups and organizations got up mmto tell others what they have been up to in the last year. It was inspirational to hear from everybody — from the Volcano Art Center to the Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to the U.S. Geological Survey and many more. It’s truly what makes us a special community.

For me, it was an opportunity to look back at how much work members of our Rotary Club of Volcano do in the community. We’re a small group — just 26 members — but together we’ve logged hundreds of hours of service.

Here’s just a partial list of what we’ve been doing:

• Each year we give a free dictionary to every third grader between Naalehu and Mountain View. I wish everyone could see the smile and excitement the books brings to those kids.

*. Once a month, we walk along a two-mile stretch of Highway 11, picking up all the trash left behind. You’d be amazed at what we find.

•. Two days a month we join forces with the Cooper Community Center Pantry to pack, then distribute bags of free food for those who need it. More than 160 people pick up those packages, and the smiles and shakas we get in return are all the payment we need.

•. For the second year in a row, we joined with the Volcano Art Center for a day-after-Thanksgiving Christmas tree lighting. More than 100 people attended, and this year we added a very popular snow machine to the festivities.

• We make and sell chili, pulled pork sandwiches, and holiday cookies to add to the festivities at popular events like the Fourth of July celebration and the Experience Volcano weekend.

•. We give a $5,000 scholarship to a local high school student going to a 4-year college, and we give a $2,000 scholarship to a student planning to enter a vocational training program.

There’s more — but I’m running out of space. So, let’s just say I’m proud of what we do, and even prouder to be in a community where so many other people do so much to look out for one another.

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District 5000 Governor Nancy Cabral visited our club this week. She had some very kind words about what we were doing, and gave us some great inspiration to keep moving forward. Thanks to all who attended. Our next official meeting wonʻt be till the third week of January, so enjoy the holidays and weʻll see you in the next year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas cookie time. Our Rotary members baked hundreds of cookies, then got together to package them for sale at Sunday's farmer's market at the Cooper Center. Still just $5 for a bag of mixed goodies.

Our Rotary members were in Na'alehua Friday giving every third grader their own dictionary

Then they walked the eager students through a lesson on how to use it.

Student had great fun looking up words that were close to the spelling of their own name.

Click on the image below to see a two-minute video of all our club activities in the past year.

Sometimes Rotary touches people in small ways

I was on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei last week when I had a small encounter with the worldwide reach of Rotary. I had already seen everything I had come for: the fabulous ruins of Nan Madal, the splendor of Sokehs Rock, and the sacred fresh water eels the island is known for. Time to head homChange e.

Only problem was that the three-times-a-week United flight that would bring me back to Honolulu was canceled. I was almost out of cash and now had two more days to spend there and nothing to pass the time. It was raining hard and thereʻs no nightlife to speak of in Pohnpei, so I was standing in a long line at the island’s only working ATM wondering how I was going to pass the next two days and nights. More than anything, I needed a good, long book to keep me occupied.

Just then a young woman stepped forward to tell everyone in line that the Rotary Club of Pohnpei was celebrating the opening of its brand-new little free library — you know, one of those give-one, take-one kind of places you see in some local neighborhoods — on the street. Rotary members had built the library in a non-working phone booth in front of town’s telecommunication building. They were also selling beautiful 2025 Micronesian calendars for $5 each.

When I finally got my money about an hour later, I walked down to the phone booth and introduced myself as a fellow Rotarian. I bought four calendars to bring home as gifts, and browsed the library’s selection, where I found an original copy of a great book I had read but forgotten almost 30 years ago: Jan Karon’s “At Home in Mitford.”

That 540-page book not only got me through two more nights in my 2-star hotel, but almost lasted me all the way home to Honolulu, a 10-hour flight. And it made me just a little more appreciative of all the projects big and small that thousands of Rotarians around the world take on every year to make their communities better.

Kalahngan, Pohnpei. I owe you a book. I’ll pay it forward. It's what Rotarians do.

Rotary launches a new holiday tradition in Volcano

Volcano Village has long been known for its Fourth of July parade and celebration. It’s a decades-old tradition that nearly every one in the town turns out for year after year. There’s really nothing like it the rest of the year.

This November, the Rotary Club of Volcano set out to change that. We wanted to start a new tradition, one that some day might rival the Independence Day party in Volcano. And what better time to do that then the Christmas holidays?

With the participation of all 22 of our members and help from several community groups, we did just that by hosting Volcano’s first-ever Christmas tree lighting party. Nearly 200 people from the village and nearby neighborhoods turned out to join in the celebration on a cool, misty night right after Thanksgiving, kicking off the holiday season.

It was a true community effort spearheaded by Rotary members working with others.

First, the Volcano Art Center offered to host the event and even provide the “tree” — the 30-foot-tall remains of a once vibrant but now dead ‘ōhiʻa right outside the art center’s entry way. A local tree-trimmer volunteered to climb the tree and string hundreds of multi-colored lights. Volunteers from the Village Church provided hot chocolate, coffee, tea and cookies. Others set up a table where youngsters could make their own Christmas ornaments. Luminarias lined the art center’s parking lot. Visitors could visit the art center’s galleries to pick up an early holiday gift. Rotary members sold $1 hot dogs, led a Christmas caroling session and passed out paper glasses that turned the tiny lights into dancing bears, angels, swaying bells and more. Santa (one of our Rotary members) moved through the crowd, with help of a red suit provided by Volcano’s Cooper Community Center.

And then came the lighting. With a 10-second countdown, we threw the switch on the lights, the tree came alive and a new Christmas tradition was born in our town. We’re already making plans to do it again next year, with even more holiday and community spirit.

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District governor joins our highway road gang

Every year, the Rotary District 5000 governor, who oversees the goings-on in all 52 clubs in Hawaiʻi, comes to visit our club in Volcano and update us on what’s happening with Rotary around the state and the world. This year, since his planned Big Island visit coincided with our regular monthly highway trash pickup, we decided to put him to work. And he was eager to help. That’s a pretty good example of Rotary’s motto: Service Above Self. After all the trash was gathered, Faigle joined the whole group for coffee and pastries and told us about Rotary efforts to increase current membership across the state, as well as new initiatives being planned to raise the profile and impact of Rotary everywhere. The key, he said, is getting — and keeping — people involved: “When they see what we’re doing, they often want to know how they can help, too,” he said. We hope that’s the case here in Volcano. Next time you see us along the highway, at the Cooper Center food distribution, or at any of our other projects in the area, take a moment to ask us how you can help too. It will be good for you and the community, too.

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We love the Fourth of July parade.

Club members and friends gathered in Volcano for a social event at a home in the Volcano Golf Course subdivision

The Rotary Club of Volcano is partnering Sept. 24 with the community in Pahala i to place a new International Peace Pole near the entrance to the town. A Peace Pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. Each Peace Pole bears the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four or six sides. There are estimated over 250,000 Peace Poles in every country in the world, including one outside the Volcano Art Center, Planting a Peace Pole is a way of bringing people together to inspire, awaken and uplift the human consciousness the world over and the Pahala dedication ceremony was attended by community members, elected officials and Rotary Club members from throughout East Hawaii. Take a look at it the next time you are in Pahala town.

March 2026 newsletter

Looking out for one another — it’s what we do in Volcano

At the annual meeting of the Volcano Community Association last month, representatives of nearly a dozen groups and organizations got up to tell others what they have been up to in the last year. It was inspirational to hear from everybody — from the Volcano Art Center to the Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to the U.S. Geological Survey and many more. It’s truly what makes us a special community.

Here’s just a partial list of what we’ve been doing:

• Each year we give a free dictionary to every third grader between Naalehu and Mountain View. I wish everyone could see the smile and excitement the books brings to those kids.

*. Once a month, we walk along a two-mile stretch of Highway 11, picking up all the trash left behind. You’d be amazed at what we find.

We make and sell chili, pulled pork sandwiches, and holiday cookies to add to the festivities at popular events like the Fourth of July celebration and the Experience Volcano weekend.

•. We give a $5,000 scholarship to a local high school student going to a 4-year college, and we give a $2,000 scholarship to a student planning to enter a vocational training program.

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Welcome to our Club!

Service Above Self

We meet In Person

Thursdays at 8:00 AM

Volcano Art Center

19-4074 Old Volcano Rd.
Volcano , HI 96718
United States of America

We are now meeting in person at the Volcano Art Center on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 8:00 A.M. We do a road clean-up the second Thursday of the month, meeting at Cooper Center at 8:00.

District Site

Bulletins

Venue Map