UH Giving Week: How you can help power Hawaii’s teams

Sports admin October 21, 2026 0 Comments

UH Giving Week: How you can help power Hawaii’s teams

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – This week marks Giving Week, a time for the community to support University of Hawai‘i athletics.

Donations help the school with recruitment and retention, funding scholarships, NIL, academic initiatives and training equipment to keep student-athletes performing at their best.

RELATED POST: Support UH student-athletes during Giving Week: how to donate

Supporting Hawai‘i’s future leaders

University of Hawai‘i Athletics Director Matt Elliott said Giving Week gives the community a chance to support student-athletes who represent the state.

“It is our team. It is Hawai‘i’s team, and everybody can be a part of that,” Elliott said. “These are our future leaders. They’re putting in the time to represent the state at the highest level.”

Elliott said support allows student-athletes to stay in Hawai‘i, graduate and be part of the community.

“UH students want to be here. They love this place. They love playing for our fans, representing this community,” Elliott said, “and when we put enough of a program around them that they are so successful and they want to be here and stay here, they’re going to graduate, and they’re going to represent this community with so much pride.”

Giving Week donations can be made online here.

Nutrition as a priority

Elliott said student-athletes consistently point to fuel, nutrition and performance nutrition as top needs.

“We’ve been surveying students, both at UH, but across the country for the last five to 10 years, and they always come back to, ‘I want to be fueled. I want nutrition. I want performance nutrition. I want to have the things that are going to make my body feel right so that I can go out and perform at the highest level,’” Elliott said.

Elliott said investment in health and nutrition helps recovery, noting travel demands.

“We’ve got unique challenges here. We travel more than anybody else. So how are we making sure they have what they need when they’re on the road, when they come back?” he said.

Get more UH Sports coverage here.

Business and community support

Elliott said he’s grateful for the response from Hawai‘i’s business community and individual donors.

He said the private sector has shown belief in the programs and student-athletes, adding that representation of the state matters when UH Athletics performs well.

Elliott said more than 1,200 individual donors participated last year, with hopes for more this year. He also cited the launch of the ‘Bows Athletics Club as a way to recognize philanthropy.

Ways to support the program

Elliott said other ways to support UH sports include buying tickets and attending games in person.

“It’s going out and buying a hat and a T-shirt and wearing that around town, and just getting out sort of the message that these programs matter,” he said. “But it’s even watching our games on TV. When we do that, we show the support for our program.”

K5 is proud to be the official broadcast partner for UH Athletics in Hawai‘i, and the dedicated home for over 100 live game telecasts and special programming each year, free for island viewers.

“People are watching Hawai‘i sports in a way that they’ve never been able to see them before,” Elliott said.