Initiative: “Helping release children from poverty one vacation rental property at a time”
Business: Coconut Condos is a family-run vacation rental company located in the historic town of Lahaina, along the northwest coast of Maui, in the island chain of Hawaii.
Description: At Coconut Condos, we believe that as a small business, it is not only our kuleana (responsibility) but our privilege to give back to our community locally, nationally and internationally. We have been blessed with so much and it is our desire to use our business to improve the lives of others and in our small but mighty way, be world changers.
Owners: Angela and Michael Leone decided in early 2017 that they wanted to make Compassion International a part of their international giving initiative having personally sponsored children for many years. Prior to starting Coconut Condos, Angie worked with children with disabilities as a bilingual speech pathologist and loved knowing that her work was making a difference in their lives. Today, she feels equally blessed for the business opportunity to be a world-changer through Compassion and the lives of children living in poverty.
Compassion International is a Christian humanitarian aid child sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world.
Coconut Condos sponsors one Compassion child for each of the condos they manage. For each property managed, Coconut Condos commits $38/month of their commission to sponsor a Compassion child living in poverty. Through Compassion, Coconut Condos is helping to release children from the cycle of poverty. These sponsorships help provide educational opportunities to defeat illiteracy, key life skills training and vocational programs to provide a brighter future, health care to prevent and fight disease and sickness, supplements to protect against malnutrition, recreational activities to develop self-confidence and social skills and protection from crime, violence and danger.
The Coconut Condos staff gathers on a quarterly basis to write letters to their sponsored children. The team worked together to select the children, identifying two from every country where Compassion has a presence, and then each staff person chose a smaller group of children to write and keep in their thoughts throughout the year. “Our team members may not have the ability to sponsor several children on their own, but our partnership gives them the ability to know they are part of something truly life changing. It has been so positive for our team morale.”
It is Angela and Michael’s dream to personally meet each of the children they sponsor. In the summer of 2017, the Leone family had the privilege to personally meet several of the children they sponsor in some of the poorest areas of Ecuador. In the summer of 2018, Angie is headed to Nicaragua as part of a Business Leaders Vision trip with Compassion and the Leone family hopes to meet their sponsored children in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras.
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals For This Initiative:
