Last month my wife and I took our son to the 2019 ESPN Honolulu Sports Festival. The event was held at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. It was the ninth year for the festival and our first time attending this event. One of the booths that stood out the most for us was Spare for Change, a non-profit organization.
Spare for Change was founded by David Havens from Maui. Its main goal is to give underprivileged kids the opportunity to experience and play golf. Overall they aim to grow the game of golf and put a club in everyone’s hands regardless of age, background and experience. That day David and his organization were at the festival fitting and giving away recycled golf clubs to children. In the first hour and a half alone he said that they already cut, regripped and gave away over 150 clubs to kids.
There were many hands on activities and attractions at the sports festival that day. The lineup included a basketball shootout, special guest appearances by athletes such as former Hawaii football player Pisa Tinoisamoa. There was a pro wrestling ring with wrestlers squaring off with each other from Unify Championship Entertainment (UCE). Other activities included the USTA Tennis association, a jiu-jitsu competition, the VEX robotics competition, a power lifting competition, Hop Training, an E-sports gaming zone and too many other vendors to name.
Liquid cooling system for computer gaming. 
Hop Training 
USTA Tennis 
UCE Wrestling 
Spare for Change
We had a lot of fun at the sports festival that day. My son was excited to receive his very first and very real golf club. Hopefully someday with a few more clubs and a lot of practice he becomes a future US Open champion!
For more ideas on fun events and activities for the family check out my list of things to do on my website!
Update 8/7/19: I wrote another article about my encounter with David Havens and his organization. To learn more about the deeper message I took away from that day please check out my post on Hawaii In Real Life. Click the link below to go directly to the article.
https://hawaiiirl.com/blogs/spare-for-change-pays-it-forward.html/