, Nā Hono a‘o Pi‘ilani (Maui Council), Ke One o Kākuhihewa (O‘ahu Council), Moku o Manokalanipō (Kaua‘i Council), and Nā Lei Makalapua (Mainland Council).){kind=link}
The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs is organized into five councils: Moku o Keawe (Hawaiʻi Council), Nā Hono aʻo Piʻilani (Maui Council), Ke One o Kākuhihewa (Oʻahu Council), Moku o Manokalanipō (Kauaʻi Council), and Nā Lei Makalapua (Mainland Council).
At the 65th Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs (AHCC) Annual Convention at the ʻAlohilani Resort in Waikīkī this past November, it went mildly unnoticed that Mainland Council of Hawaiian Civic Clubs (MCAHCC) had received its charter some 35 years prior at the same location – at the time it was known as the Pacific Beach Hotel.
The chartering of MCAHCC on Nov. 15, 1989, claimed a historical moment as the AHCC became the first Native Hawaiian community-based organization to authorize jurisdiction over Hawaiian civic club (HCC) membership clubs to an organization outside of the State of Hawaiʻi. The MCAHCC incorporated in the State of California and planted its Hawaiian Flag on the continental U.S.
The journey to the prized charter was arduous and often disheartening for the founders of the MCAHCC.
On May 14, 1983, members from ʻAhahui Kalākaua HCC 1975 (CA-San Francisco), ʻAhahui o Liliʻuokalani HCC 1977 (CA-Los Angeles), and ʻĀinahau o Kaleponi HCC 1982 (CA-Orange County) met in Buena Park, Calif. Steering the meeting, Victor L. Jarrett, Sr. of Āinahau o Kaleponi HCC presented the case to establish a district council:
“If a Hawaiian Civic Club was organized primarily to remain in its own local level of operation, not planning to be a part of the convention of the association in the State of Hawaiʻi, then there is no advantage whatsoever to establish a district council for California or even being chartered by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in the State of Hawaiʻi.”
Civic clubs formed on the “mainland” were under the jurisdiction of the Board of AHCC separated from civic clubs belonging to district councils of Hawaiʻi, Maui, Oʻahu and Kauaʻi. Mainland clubs sat idle at association board directors meetings with no recognition or the elective priority rights given to district councils.
The 1983 May reception was lukewarm. Representation would incur substantial costs for component club travel at the required convention and quarterly meetings. From the perspective of the AHCC delegations, the mainland would have too large of a presence and overpower the other district councils.
Undaunted, Uncle Victor moved forward with avid support from ʻĀinahau o Kaleponi HCC. Through six years of correspondence with AHCC presidents Benson Lee and Jalna Keala, the chartering of the mainland district council came with five component clubs: ʻĀinahau o Kaleponi HCC, ʻAhahui o Liliʻuokalani HCC, Hui Hawaiʻi o Utah, Nā Poʻe o Hawaiʻi Colorado, and Las Vegas HCC.
Present at the chartering were Andy and Brucie Berard, Victor and Jane Pang, Ellen Selu, Kalima Yadanza, Dewey Clark, John Jensen, Diane Simms, Kathy Frink and the tenacious corresponding secretary Jackie Judd. Ahahui Kalākaua HCC resisted being part of the mainland district council and withdrew before the chartering.
In 1990, at the 31st Convention of AHCC, first elected MCAHCC Pelekikena (President) Victor Kaiwi Pang delivered his council report “Pūpūkahi i Holomua (Unite to Progress)” to a delegation of 600.
Today, MCAHCC includes 16 clubs in 11 States: California, Utah, Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Virgina/D.C., Illinois, Washington, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Missouri.