Pūlama iā Kona Heritage Council’s mission is
to preserve, protect, and enhance the special qualities of historic Kona

Saving Kona Stories

In June 2024, we were awarded a $20,000 Waiwai grant from Hawai'i County for our Saving Kona Stories project.

In January 2025, we were awarded $10,000 from the Atherton Family Foundation - Hawaii Community Foundation and $5,000 from the Further Foundation towards the Saving Kona Stories project.

This year, we will meet our remaining financial goals through our community fundraising events.

We will use these grant and community-raised funds to create an online repository for records and oral histories and restore Holualoa's historic building signs. This user-friendly repository will allow the community, our school teachers, students, and scholars easy access to our rich cultural history online. 

Our 2025 fundraising goal is $45K, and we have raised $15K so far with 30K left to go! Please consider supporting this vision.

This funding supports;

  • Research historical places, events, and people along the Mamalahoa Kona Historic Corridor (MKHC).

  • Upgrading and expanding our digital collection repository

  • Record and compiling the oral history of Kona

  • Update and enhance our website and social media platforms

  • Redoing the twenty-four historic building signs along the Mamalahoa Kona Historic Corridor that have been degraded. They will be replaced by the more durable photo-engraved anodized aluminum signs with improved photos and histories.

  • Development of a virtual walking tour and driving tour along the MKHC

We are looking for volunteers
to assist with these projects.
Please get in touch antu@pulama.org

Your donation today will help us accomplish our preservation goals!

“Historic preservation clearly does much more than preserve bricks and mortar. It recognizes that our built history connects us in tangible ways with our past and provides context for the places we occupy and the world we live in. It fuses art with craftsmanship, capacity for modern utility with embodied energy, and progressive ideas for economic revitalization with traditional authenticity. Historic preservation is at the same time wonderfully egalitarian; all socioeconomic classes in every corner of the nation have successfully utilized it’s principles to protect their heritage and revitalize their communities.”

~ Craig Potts, Executive Director of the Kentucky Heritage Council and State Historic Preservation Officer