Friends of Hokule‘a & Hawai‘iloa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to perpetuating Hawaiian canoe building traditions, have agreed to lease one of their handcrafted canoes to be featured in the new ING DIRECT Café scheduled to open in November 2008 in Honolulu.
When it came to designing the new ING DIRECT Café, Cleo Brown, Head of Hawaii Operations for ING DIRECT and a 40-year resident of Hawaii was on a mission. “When I was put in charge of this project, I was determined to break from the traditional flower and turtle scheme; I wanted this Café to reflect the true beauty of Hawaii and that beauty lies within its culture,” said Brown.
Friends of Hokule‘a & Hawai‘iloa plan to host a program at the ING DIRECT Café, which will focus on traditional Hawaiian canoe-building and the cultural and religious aspects of the process. “There are very few of these (canoes) in existence at the present time. We are working to educate the public about the tradition and to develop the next generation of canoe craftsmen,” said Tay Perry, Vice President of the Friends of Hokule‘a & Hawai‘iloa.
The Café will serve as both a financial information center and a social gathering place. In addition to learning about the different ways to save, visitors will be able to check their ING DIRECT accounts via high-tech Internet kiosks, purchase items from local vendors and enjoy a fantastic lunch from one of the Café’s featured local favorites, Panya Bakery, Hawaiian Coffee Co. and Hokulani Bakery.
