At the conclusion of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League All-Star Cup, Athletes Unlimited, powered by Give Lively and the Give Lively Foundation, will make a grant equal to 100% of each competitor’s win bonus to the organization of their choice.
Throughout the AUSL All-Star Cup, we’ll spotlight athletes each week, sharing the personal stories behind the organizations they’re representing and the impact they hope to make both on and off the field.
This week’s featured player is Ailana Agbayani, who selected Hawaii Foodbank, an organization providing food assistance to communities across Hawai‘i.
For Agbayani, supporting Hawai‘i Foodbank is an opportunity to give back to the place she calls home while bringing attention to the challenges many families face as the cost of living on the islands continues to rise.
More Than a Vacation Spot
Q: Why did you choose Hawaii Foodbank as the organization you wanted to represent during the AUSL All-Star Cup?
Agbayani: My cause is the Hawaii Food Bank, and I chose it because it’s something that is really close to me, especially being from Hawaii. Being from Hawaii, it’s definitely different than a lot of people think. Because when you think of Hawaii, you think of the perfect vacation spot and all of that. But really, there are a lot of people back home struggling financially because it’s so hard to keep up in the economy in Hawaii with the high cost of living.
People struggle just to make ends meet, finding meals and finding food and having food. So being able to give back to my community, especially a community that I’m so proud to be from, and a community that raised me and supports me in my softball journey, I get so many DMs and comments from people back home. So it’s really special to be able to have the opportunity to give back back home.
A Growing Awareness of Food Insecurity
Q: Was food insecurity something you were aware of growing up in Hawai‘i, or is it an issue you’ve learned more about as you’ve gotten older?
Agbayani: “I think more so as I’ve gotten older, just because I feel like it’s very common now for people. There’s a lot more people who are born and raised in Hawaii moving to the mainland, and more mainland people moving to Hawaii just because they can afford it.
“There’s so many people from the mainland buying properties back home, and so a lot of people who are from Hawaii are moving to the mainland to be able to afford to live. Just because the cost of living in Hawaii is just outrageous, and just thinking about the food, the price of the food and the pricing of housing, it’s crazy.”
People back home do struggle, and food insecurity is a real thing. I think if anyone visits the islands and they go to a grocery store, they would be so in shock about the prices in the grocery stores.”
Keeping Families Together
Q: How important is it to make sure people don’t have to leave their homes just to be able to afford necessities like food?
Agbayani: I think that’s very important because I think Hawaii is, like I said, a very special place. I think the culture back home is very, very family oriented. Everything about Hawaii, we call everyone aunties and uncles. We never refer to someone who’s older than us, like an elder, by their first name. It’s always auntie and uncle as a sign of respect.
Obviously, when you think of an aunt or an uncle, you think of family, so I think it just shows how we’re all like one big family back home. I think being able to help, almost like you think of helping your family member out, it’s kind of like that back home.
I’m blessed enough that my family, everyone from my aunties, my mom’s siblings, to my dad’s siblings, everyone is still on the island. So when I think about going back home, I’m so excited to go back home because I get to see my whole family.
Being able to go back home for me, and I know that all my family members are in one place and I get to see all of them at one time, that’s really special. So I think that it means a lot being able to keep families in Hawaii that are from Hawaii.
Representing Something Bigger
Q: As someone who’s represented Hawaii throughout your softball career, how important is it for you to use your platform to give back to the community that helped shape you?
Agbayani: It means a lot to me, especially since there’s so much support from Hawaii. I feel the local news station will always reach out and highlight my moments on TV. They’re so great about reaching out and always the first ones to interview me.
So it’s nice to be able to represent Hawaii and be able to give back to a community that has so much support and has always supported me, even through high school. It means a lot.
Being able to just represent something bigger than myself on this stage and having this platform means a lot to me. And it means a lot that I’m able to do something for my community back home with this platform too.
Keeping the Culture of Hawai‘i Alive
Q: When people read your story and learn about Hawai‘i Foodbank, what do you hope they take away from it?
Agbayani: I feel like the majority of the people who will be reading the story aren’t from Hawaii, so I hope that they take away that Hawaii is just not some vacation spot to go to. There are real problems back home that a lot of Native Hawaiians who are born and raised in Hawaii face every day.
I encourage them to also maybe donate if they can to just support people back home because we all love the islands of Hawaii. I’m sure a lot of people love to think of vacation spots, and they think, ‘I want a vacation in Hawaii.’ But also, I think it’s important to give back to the community, especially communities that people love, just to keep the islands the islands.
It wouldn’t be Hawaii without people born and raised from Hawaii keeping the culture.
Learn more about Athletes Unlimited’s Athlete Causes program.
Check back each week during the AUSL All-Star Cup as we spotlight a new athlete and the organization they’re supporting.
Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.
