Ho'ōla Nā Pua Announces Recipients of Advocacy Awards

Ho’ōla Nā Pua (HNP) announced the recipients of its 2023 Advocacy Awards, who will be honored at the eighth annual Pearl Gala on Sept. 30th at the Four Seasons Resort O’ahu at Ko’olina. The awards are presented to individuals, companies and organizations who have done notable advocacy work against the sexual exploitation of children.

Among the four awardees is First Lady Jaime Kanani Green, who began working in trafficking advocacy across the Hawai’i islands after graduating from undergraduate and law school. Green, who has been doing work with HNP—a Hawai’i based non-profit with a mission to prevent child sex trafficking and provide resources and help to children who have been exploited—for over a decade, recognizes the need for this work now more than ever.

“In the midst of the unfolding tragedy on Maui, we need to remember how youth who were already at risk are now even more vulnerable in this destabilized situation,” Green says. “It is critical that organizations that provide a community of care and safety for at-risk youth, like HNP, not only step up to meet the needs of the moment, but continue to do so on an ongoing basis to address the human trafficking crisis that existed long before the Maui fires, and is likely to be more acute in their aftermath.”

Esteemed awards recipients Duke Gerhart and Duchess Dr. Nancy Atmospera-Walch of ADVANTAGE Health Care Provider, Inc. and Karen Polivka, Chairperson at HNP will also be presented with awards for raising awareness and advocating and supporting HNP. hoolanapua.org