HONOLULU, HI- Make-A-Wish® Hawaii has welcomed Tiffany Vara, Dr. Greg Yim, and Mike Rompel to its board of directors. As part of Make-A-Wish Hawaii’s 22-person volunteer board, these new leaders will guide the nonprofit in fundraising, philanthropy, and community awareness efforts to support its vision of granting life-changing wishes to every eligible child in the state of Hawaii fighting a critical illness. Vara, Yim, and Rompel were welcomed to the board of directors during the organization’s virtual annual board meeting on August 26. Six additional rising local community leaders were also welcomed to its Young Leaders Board.
A mother of five and Army Medical Service Corps veteran, Vara is a community volunteer and ardent advocate for children and families. After her youngest daughter suffered a brain injury, she dedicated herself to providing the care and interventions her daughter needed, as well as to advocating for other families through a governor-appointed position on the State Council for Developmental Disabilities. After her daughter passed, Vara continued her work, leading a three-year effort to bring inclusive play to Hawaii and a playground for children of all abilities to Honolulu. Currently, she is working nationally to improve patient and family experiences, safety and outcomes as a family advisor and site mentor for the I-PASS SCORE project, a 21-site mentored implementation study of family-centered rounds in pediatric inpatient settings.
Yim is a physician practicing general pediatrics and pediatric neurology at Gregory K. Yim, M.D. LLC and Windward Pediatrics, Inc. In addition to studying at Dartmouth College, Jefferson Medical School, and Columbia University, Yim completed his residency at Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children, settling back home on Oahu in 1994. Having practiced for over 25 years, Yim is well acquainted with the Make-A-Wish mission and has referred dozens of local patients to Make-A-Wish Hawaii. He is also a clinical professor for the University of Hawaii School of Medicine and has been active in the community as chairman of the board at the Variety School since 2007 and as a member of the Punahou board of trustees since 2014.
A Las Vegas native, Rompel has been a Domino’s Pizza manager and franchisee for nearly 30 years, overseeing eight stores and 75 employees by the age of 19. He purchased his first store in 1998 in downtown San Francisco before first coming to Hawaii in 2005 to assist with a friend’s franchise. Rompel then went on to settle on Oahu, purchasing six Domino’s Hawaii locations and building a brand that now includes over 800 team members across 23 locations. A devout Christian, Rompel believes in giving back to the community. He currently serves as a member of the board of trustees at Island Pacific Academy, and he has partnered with Make-A-Wish Hawaii for fundraising events and initiatives over the years.
“I am so pleased to welcome Tiffany Vara, Dr. Greg Yim, and Mike Rompel to our Make-A-Wish Hawaii leadership team,” said Make-A-Wish Hawaii President and CEO Trini Kaopuiki Clark. “Each of them brings diverse experiences and expertise, as well as sincere heart and a passion for giving back, to our mission. I am eager to see how they will leverage these skills toward guiding our organization forward and transforming the lives of wish keiki across our islands.”
For more information about Make-A-Wish Hawaii, visit hawaii.wish.org.
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About Make-A-Wish Hawaii
Make-A-Wish® Hawaii creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We seek to bring every eligible child’s wish to life, because a wish is an integral part of a child’s treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight their illness. Headquartered in Honolulu, Make-A-Wish Hawaii is considered one of the top charities in the state, with 76 cents of every dollar raised going directly toward granting wishes in Hawaii. One of the first local Make-A-Wish chapters established, Make-A-Wish Hawaii continues to be among the busiest in the nation. Together, generous donors, supporters, staff and more than 700 volunteers have granted nearly 1,500 wishes for children across the state of Hawaii since 1982 and have hosted more than 16,000 others for children around the world; the chapter granted 98 local wishes in 2019 alone. For more information about Make-A-Wish Hawaii, visit Hawaii.wish.org.