In Hawai’i, “kuleana” is a one-word expression to describe an entire culture’s approach to community. For the Favela family, the term has come to represent the path from tragedy to a bright future.

Honolulu police officer Steve Favela died in 2006 following a motorcycle accident that occurred while escorting President George W. Bush onto Hickam Air Force Base. His tragic passing left his widow, Barbara, to raise their four young children, Keahi, Kiana, Matt and Jakob.

“The path to college for my children became much harder,” Barbara says. “We accepted that we would have to work together as a family to reach for that dream and even then, there were no guarantees.”

Oldest son Keahi was already a student at Chapman University when it was Kiana’s turn to enroll. The financial challenges were mounting. Barbara encouraged Kiana to continue looking for scholarship assistance. Kiana’s search hit upon Kids’Chance of Hawai’i (KCHI) and she reached out to Milia Jeong, the organization’s president.

“We couldn’t have been more excited to hear from Kiana,” Milia says. “We had just formed and had raised enough funds to award our first scholarship. We were actively looking for our inaugural scholar.”

“There are a lot of scholarship programs out there, which is great,” Barbara notes, “but most of them result in very small awards. It takes many, many applications to piece together the financial support you need. At $5,000, the Kids’ Chance scholarship was substantial and provided exactly the amount we needed at the time.”

Barbara wondered if Keahi might also be eligible for a KCHI award. A quick phone call to Milia provided the answer. “Milia encouraged us to apply, which resulted in a scholarship for his senior year,” Barbara says.

Matthew soon followed Keahi and Kiana to Chapman, and into the Kids’ Chance Hawai’I family. Since Kiana’s first call to the organization, Keahi has earned a bachelor’s degree in health science. Now married and a father, he joined the U.S. Air Force and is about to embark on officer training. His goal is to use his military benefits to earn a master’s degree in the health field.

Kiana graduated with a dual degree in broadcast journalism and political science. Recently married as well, she is planning to go back to school to follow her mother’s footsteps into nursing. Matthew completed his bachelor’s degree in data science this past spring and will spend the next year earning a master’s in electrical engineering.

Now it is Jakob’s turn. This fall, he will begin studying data science at Chapman, becoming the fourth Favela to benefit from the KCHI scholarship program.  

“I felt it was important to send my children to the mainland for college,” Barbara explains. “I wanted them to be exposed to a world larger than our island. But of course, that presented challenges, both financial and emotional. KCHI helped on both fronts, providing significant scholarship resources, but also providing the warmth of a caring community. The people at KCHI genuinely want to see their scholars do well. They make you feel like family from day one.”

Matthew agrees. “There are little things that show how much they care,” he says. “They send me special snacks that you can only get in Hawai’i, and reusable grocery bags with designs that remind me of home. I write back every semester, telling my 'aunties' how well I am doing.”

Matthew has made it his mission to honor his KCHI family by taking advantage of every opportunity available to him at Chapman. Jakob plans to do the same. “The people at Kids’ Chance inspire me to keep up my hard work,” he says.

KCHI has actively supported students every year since it formed in 2018. In 2025, the organization awarded eight scholarships, including its largest to date at $40,000.

“We have been fortunate to have strong support from local donors as well as corporate sponsorships within the insurance community and elsewhere, allowing us to continue our mission of supporting higher education for children who have had a parent fatally or catastrophically injured on the job,” Milia says. “We are a proud member of Kids’ Chance of America and are grateful for the opportunity to work with this amazing organization.

“When you donate to Kids’ Chance of Hawai’i, you are helping to support families with the financial burden of higher education as they navigate through the challenges of losing a parent,” Milia continues. “It is amazing to see these students thrive and embrace their future despite having to experience such adversity. Our board is entirely made up of volunteers and 100% of donations go to scholarships.” 

Adds Barbara: “Kids’ Chance welcomed my children with love and compassion after what they have been through. They also made it possible for me, a single mother, to send all four of my children to college. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

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