{"id":225960,"date":"2025-11-25T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T20:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=225960"},"modified":"2025-11-25T10:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T20:45:13","slug":"hawaii-gas-fuels-culinary-students-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/25\/hawaii-gas-fuels-culinary-students-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi Gas fuels culinary student\u2019s dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"Kalani
Kamani Kalani works at a sushi bar when he is not in class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Kamana Kalani, a second-year University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Maui College culinary<\/a> student, the path to becoming a chef and owning his own restaurant was nearly derailed by a serious illness and the devastation of the Lahaina wildfires. After being forced out of work for six months, the financial burden was immense.<\/p>\n

“I was putting all my bills on my credit card and it was stressing me out,” Kalani said. “I lost a lot of weight and had a lot of physical issues.”<\/p>\n

A scholarship from Hawaiʻi<\/span> Gas<\/a> arrived like a lifeline, allowing him to shift his focus from financial survival to his education and recovery.<\/p>\n

“It took so much pressure off,” Kalani said. “Instead of worrying about how to pay for school, I could put my energy into learning.”<\/p>\n

Investing in Hawaiʻi\u2019s<\/span> future<\/h2>\n
\"Kalani
Kamana Kalani discussed his passion for the culinary arts with visitors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kalani recently led a tour for Hawaiʻi<\/span> Gas executives, including President and CEO<\/abbr> Alicia Moy, to showcase his craft.<\/p>\n

“During our tour with Kamana, I could feel the passion and focus it takes to thrive in the culinary field,” Moy said. “Culinary education develops talent and creativity, and contributes to strengthening resilience in our community.”<\/p>\n

Now thriving at Nobu Grand Wailea while balancing his classes, Kalani continues to sharpen his craft, his future trajectory secured by timely aid.<\/p>\n

Moy said, “Supporting students like Kamana is an investment in Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s future, giving young people the space to grow, learn and achieve their dreams.”<\/p>\n

Read more at ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A financial lifeline enabled recovery, and helped an aspiring chef flourish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":225966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[184,344,572,319,60],"class_list":["post-225960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-culinary","tag-maui-culinary-academy","tag-scholarship","tag-uh-foundation","tag-maui-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/uh-foundation-hawaii-gas-kalani-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225960"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225970,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225960\/revisions\/225970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}