Hawaiʻi Public Radio is rooted in community. HPR reporters set out to uplift voices from across the Hawaiian Islands this year.
People healing from the devastating 2023 Maui wildfires. Perpetuating farming culture on Kauaʻi. A medical Hail Mary that took a local woman to Tennessee. Changed shopping habits in a challenging year for consumers.
Join us as we look back on some of our favorite community stories from 2025.
1. These Lahaina boat captains share humpbacks and healing with fellow fire survivors
Following the Maui fires in 2023, the community came together to help and provide for fire survivors and their families. Maui Ocean Adventures, a Lahaina charter company, opened for business just two weeks before the wildfires swept through Lahaina.
Maui Ocean Adventures lost everything, including a new charter boat, as they helped dozens of people who had jumped into the harbor to escape the blaze. The charter company had to start from scratch. However, that didn't stop them from giving back to the community.
Capt. Chrissy Lovitt and Emma Nelson save seats during their whale watching excursions to give fire survivors the chance to whale watch for free. HPR's Catherine Cluett Pactol joined on one of the excursions to bring you the story.
2. 'I've proven myself': The Pig and The Lady bids farewell to Chinatown
The award-winning Vietnamese restaurant The Pig and The Lady closed its longtime location in Honolulu's Chinatown after 12 years. The restaurantʻs new spot is now at the Civil Beat Plaza on Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimukī.
Owner and chef Andrew Le shared that the move was a full-circle moment because his family's old hobby shop, Toys N' Joys, was just a block away. HPRʻs Cassie Ordonio talked to Le to learn more about the popular restaurant.
3. A 4,300-mile medical flight and lung transplant saved this Maui woman's life
Michelle Ankele-Yamashita’s yearlong medical ordeal began in September 2024 with a bad case of the flu. After a week of feeling ill, the 58-year-old Maui resident went to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome — a life-threatening injury to the lungs.
She needed a lung transplant to survive. However, Honolulu is thousands of miles away from transplant centers in the continental U.S.
Dozens of centers turned her case down. Only one program in Nashville, Tennessee, gave Ankele-Yamashita’s doctors the green light to transport her to the Volunteer State for further testing.
HPR's Maddie Bender spoke to Yamashita and her doctors, Dr. Anil Trindade and Dr. Konrad Hoetzenecker, about the case.
4. What's in your cart? Hawaiʻi grocery shoppers react to rising prices
This year, following rising prices and U.S. tariffs, HPR decided to roll out a new segment called “Whatʻs in your cart?” We went to grocery stores and asked shoppers how they're feeling about the economy and what changes they've made to their shopping habits. HPR's DW Gibson and Tori DeJournett made their way to grocery stores across the state.
5. Community voices of 'No Kings' protest that brought out thousands across the state
Millions across the nation participated in the "No Kings" protests against President Donald Trump’s administration on June 14.
HPR went out to the protest at the state Capitol in Honolulu to hear how the community was feeling and how the new administration has affected them.
6. Rebuilding a burned Kula home brings both construction challenges and mixed emotions
More than 20 homes burned in Kula during the 2023 Maui fires. Eighty-five-year-old resident Tom Liu was one of the first homeowners to rebuild his home. HPR talked to Liu a year after losing his home.
Now two years later, he shared that reaching the end of the building process has somehow felt anticlimactic. Liu and his wife had built the original house that burned in 2023. He lost his wife over a decade ago.
HPRʻs Catherine Cluett Pactol talked with Liu again this year, highlighting how he felt towards the end of the rebuilding process.
7. JABSOM clinic marks 20 years of free health care for Oʻahu's houseless population
An Iwilei health care clinic that focuses on giving free health care to Oʻahu’s houseless population is part of the Houseless Outreach and Medical Education project, also known as the Hawaiʻi H.O.M.E. project, at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The clinic is part of the Houseless Outreach and Medical Education project, also known as the Hawaiʻi H.O.M.E. project, at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
HPR’s Emma Caires shadowed student doctors as they provided care to Leighton Fuentes, a patient who has been coming to the clinic for about a year and a half.
8. 2 foilers ride the Kaiwi Channel currents to victory
The Molokaʻi 2 Oʻahu Foil World Championships brought more than a hundred foilers to tame the Kaiwi Channel in a race that covered 40 miles from Molokaʻi to Oʻahu. Maui waterwoman Annie Reickert, 24, was top in the women's category, finishing in 2:19:55. Edoardo "Edo" Tanas, 22, won in the standup paddle men's division with a time of 1:56:55 — making it his second consecutive victory. HPR’s Catherine Cruz talked to both of them about their wins and journeys.
9. 'Beyond me': 6th-generation wahine Kauaʻi kalo farmer continues family legacy
The Boro-Harada family has been running kalo farms on Kauai’s north shore since the 1950s and has no plans on stopping anytime soon. Sierra-Lynn Stone is the sixth generation to run the farm. She shared that she plans to continue the legacy of those before her through her own keiki.
HPR’s DW Gibson and Tori DeJournett went out in the field to learn more about Stone’s story and cultivation of the kalo farms.
