{"id":2192,"date":"2024-04-03T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/hawaii\/?p=2192"},"modified":"2024-04-03T22:05:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T22:05:01","slug":"launch-40-40-12-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/hawaii\/launch-40-40-12-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"MADD Hawaii Commemorates 40th Anniversary with fundraising campaign 40\/40\/12 Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Commemorate MADD Hawaii\u2019s 40th anniversary by making a lasting impact. Join the 40\/40\/12 Club. We welcome all donations including more than $40, a smaller amount, or becoming an individual or corporate sponsor. By joining the club you support our mission to create a future with #NoMoreVictims of Impaired Driving. Every contribution makes a difference! Scan the QR code or\u00a0click here to donate<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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How MADD Hawaii started:<\/strong>\u00a0 Carol McNamee and her physician husband Phil McNamee first visited Hawaii in 1960 on their honeymoon and loved the islands so much they moved here in the early 1970s. As a volunteer with the Hawaii Medical Association Auxiliary, she attended a conference in Hilo that included guest speaker Dr. Michael Irwin.\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"At the conference, Irwin told a story of his wife and two-year-old son all driving home together from a tennis tournament when his wife asked him to stop at a store to buy milk. As he was turning into the parking lot, a car sped towards them and he could not avoid them. The car smashed the passenger side of the Irwins\u2019 vehicle. Dr. Irwin\u2019s wife died in his arms and their toddler son was thrown from the hatchback and sustained life-changing injuries.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI had never heard such a terrible traffic story,\u201d McNamee said. \u201cThey found out that the person who hit them was under the influence. He was impaired. We heard this story and I just didn\u2019t know that things like that happened in the world. Dr. Irwin also said he was reading about a new organization founded by a woman named Candy Lightner and the name of the organization was Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

McNamee was inspired to make a difference. She got the auxiliary to take on the issue of drunk driving and vote to establish Hawaii\u2019s chapter of MADD. This February, MADD Hawaii commemorated 40 years of work to save lives and support victims of violent and preventable crimes.\u00a0 \u201cWe continue to have a huge problem, even though great strides have been made,\u201d said McNamee who remains an active member of MADD Hawaii\u02bbs advisory board.<\/span>

Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes \u2014 that\u2019s one person every 39 minutes. In 2021, 13,384 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths. These deaths were all preventable. \u201cIt has been an interesting ride which is why I never gave it up,\u201d McNamee says of the past four decades.\u201dIt\u2019s become too important. We need to do the right thing. We\u2019re not against alcohol, we\u2019re against drinking and driving. People need to be educated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Over the past four decades, MADD Hawaii has reached many milestones, see below for some highlights, and click here for more m<\/a>ilestones.<\/a><\/span><\/p>


1984:<\/strong>\u00a0Inaugural Candlelight Vigil to remember victims held at Holy Trinity Church in Niu Valley. The same evening, Jon Raneses, 22, was killed by a drunk driver near Sandy Beach.\u00a0<\/span>

1984-86:<\/strong>\u00a0Key milestone achieved through campaigns and community work\/engagement to raise Hawaii\u2019s drinking age; legislature passes bill to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21.\u00a0<\/span>

1985-86<\/strong>: Partnership launch of \u201cProject Prom\/Graduation\u201d workshops for students with Dept. of Transportation and the Dept. of Education statewide sponsorship.\u00a0<\/span>

1986-87<\/strong>: A \u201cDesignated Driver\u201d awareness program was established with the support of several local organizations.\u00a0<\/span>

1991<\/strong>: \u201cAdministrative Driver License Revocation\u201d (ADLR) statute passes after an eight-year campaign. This new law is flawed and MADD Hawaii challenges the community to \u201cfix the flaw in the law.\u201d A special session of the legislature was called by Senate President Dickie Wong after he received 3,000 calls protesting the law. Wong called MADD a \u201cgiant killer.\u201d<\/span>

1997<\/strong>: Their Impaired Driving Task Force works to pass several key pieces of legislation:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>