The Invincible Dream Makers Kickoff Hawaii’s 2025 YIP

The dreams over this rainbow are big! And as our invincible dream makers came together at Roy Yamaguchi’s Eatinghouse 1849 to kick off Hawaii’s 2025 Youth Impact Program, it is clear that Youth Impact Program Hawaii makes those dreams come true for the at-risk youth on Oahu. The passion, gratitude, and trust were felt by every participant as our community leaders shared their personal experiences, histories, and memories of the Youth Impact Program, its impact on our dreamers, and its impact on our community. Hawaii’s 8^th Boy’s program starts June 16 and 4^th Girl’s program starts July 16, and the energy felt on this occasion lets us know that our community and supporters are excited for the 2025 YIP to get started. Hawaii Program Director, Siegfried “Ziggy” Ramil called up Cameron Nekota of First Hawaiian Bank (helping us to make dreams come true since day one), Colonel Matt Dalton, Department of Education teacher Joe Lileikis, Head Coach Laura Beeman of the UH Wahine Basketball team, Assistant Coach Chris Brown of the UH Rainbow Warriors, Department of Education Teacher Joe Lilekis, and Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi. Each one of them was as excited as the next about being dream makers in their own capacities.

“I get to see a lot of opportunities that come in front of us, and one of the things that we look for in making an impact in the community is providing access for kids to things that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. What Riki has put together for the kids here in Hawaii, is so important to helping them see the vision for what they can be.”

-Cameron Nekota, First Hawaiian Bank

“This program is about all the right stuff. About giving kids an indication and an insight into their own potential. About showing them what could be possible. About challenging them.”

-Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi

But the emotion was felt when our testimonial speakers came up could not be beat.  Dawn Aganos, Hoku Defeo, and Lena Conrad told stories of their children and their teams. How this program ignites a spark in children, fills them with academic intrigue, inspires them to become leaders in their community, and reminds them to give it their all- on the field, in the classroom and in their communities.

“As a parent, I’ve seen my son grow from his program. Not only did he become a part of the ‘braddahhood’, he learned to be a better person. He learned that respect for others and self-discipline was important on and off the field.”

-Dawn Aganos, YIP Parent

“My daughter learned how to be a leader within this program. She learned that she is not too young to be a leader to her peers and in her community and with her teammates. In the two years that she’s been doing the program, she now runs an organization that provides Christmas experiences to homeless children across the island. Hawaii is her home, and she will be a leader here in Hawaii, and she sees it through various moments that she had through the YIP program.”

-Hoku Defeo, YIP Parent

“What kind of kids come through our program? It’s the real passionate kids. Ones that don’t have money. I went down at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base, and one of the boys (from YIP) was going to the Marines. I had time to talk to him while we were waiting for the bus for him to board to go on to basic. And this is what he said:  YIP allowed me to dream big, leave a good mark on the world, and this is the reason why I joined the Marines.”

—Lena Conrad, YIP Community Liaison

Our coaches celebrated what this program has done for our dreamers but expanded those dreamers to include their NCAA athletes. Assistant Coach Chris Brown of UH Rainbow Warriors highlights that not only has this program lead to transformation of these at-risk youth but has helped to shaped and develop Hawaii’s team- making them stronger role models. And Coach Laura Beeman of UH Wahine Basketball celebrates another successful season, she highlights the importance that this program has on our youth and challenges YIP and supporters to bring this transformative program to our outer island kids, who are often in similar at-risk communities but severely lacking access due to geography.

“This is Hawaii’s team. We’re put on a pedestal for a reason. We’re on this pedestal to be able to provide back, to give back to the community. There is no better thing to do than work with these kids. And it’s so fulfilling, and we’re so blessed to be a part of it.”

-Coach Chris Brown, UH Rainbow Warriors

“The impact from the stories that we heard today from [the parents], thank you for sharing. I will also take that back to my team and say, do you understand the impact you have just by being who you are, by wearing Hawaii across your chest?”

-Coach Laura Beeman, UH Wahine Basketball

And in the spirit of transformative dreams, our Hawaii Director, Ziggy, highlighted a change in curriculum. He recalls watching the kids get excited last year when guest speakers came in to talk about their jobs in piloting, drones, and other STEM fields. It was clear that a more hands-on STEM curriculum was needed to continue to inspire our dreamers to dream big. Our teachers are all-in this summer on creating rockets with our campers, and intensifying their exposure to STEM through a well curated curriculum that they can engage with in a very exciting way. He highlighted th rocket curriculum, but also how the campers could take this back into their communities, that there are numerous organizations across the island that can continue to foster this excitement once we ignite it.

Closing our awesome program, was Mr. Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman, leaving our dream makers with confidence that this group of dream makers are essential in helping these young people, but moreover that everyone in this group is committed to win in a big way for our community.

“And winners associate with winners to win. And the best thing about winning teams is that you have a feeling of invincibility. You have invincibility before the contest happens. This program is diversity at its best. It is this country at its best. It is trust amongst all of us from different backgrounds, different levels that have come together to impact their youth. And because we are so trusting with each other, and we’ve built this over time, we have become invincible.”

-Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman

The YIP Kickoff luncheon was hosted by one of our founding members of Hawaii YIP- Roy Yamaguchi, at his Eating House 1849 restaurant in Waikiki. Alongside him, another esteemed founding member and leader of the Hawai’i Community- Sharon Brown- who continuously advocates for our community and has been able to collect numerous resources for Youth Impact Program Hawai’I to continue to reach as many children as possible, year after year, with no obstacle being too big.

The local Hawaii Community and Leadership are the heart and soul of this program, really enabling us to provide an amazing experience for this community. The First Hawaiian Bank, our title sponsor and first ever sponsor for Hawaii YIP led by Cameron Nekota, has been generous and anchored our program annually. We also recognize our Platinum Sponsor, Jim and Lynn Lally. We recognize the many restaurant sponsors who help provide two meals per day for each child. We also have the continued support from Roberts Hawaii led by Roy Pfund, which start and end our days by bringing our housing challenged and at-risk youth from all over the island to University of Hawai’i at Manoa, a daunting task that they make seem easy. We also recognize a second title sponsor- Leidos, who generously gave $50,000 towards our 2025 program. We are thankful for all our Dream makers of Hawai’i YIP.

Our Hawaii YIP boys program runs June 16 through June 27 at the University of Hawaii, and Hawaii YIP girls program runs July 16 to July 25. Returning for a third year as our Hawaii YIP Director is Siegfried “Ziggy” Ramil, who has been with us in support of past YIP Hawaii programs, served as the master of ceremonies for our luncheon. He continues to be excited about what this program brings to the community, the university, and continues to maximize volunteer support and local resources to build the program.

Dream Big Live your Dream to Give your Dream

We are giving our Dreams to Team Invincible, Hawaii YIP 2025, to make Dreams happen!