TOKONI MĀLOHI
Powerful Help for Pacific Islanders
At Tokoni Mālohi, we’re promoting initiatives to serve the people and organizations who need them most. We believe in taking action by providing material support to organizations tackling some of the most pressing issues facing these small, isolated countries. Please join us by supporting our efforts to make a measurable difference in the lives of others.
Tokoni Mālohi is achieving more with our initiatives than expected. We're working on many exciting projects to help improve the lives of others, and are very proud of the progress we continue to make. Learn more about what we do, who we help, and how we work every day to promote positive change.
What We Do
SEEK
We look for organizations and agencies that focus on educational and environmental efforts in the Kingdom of Tonga and remote areas of the South Pacific Islands. These far flung nations are some of the most vulnerable to the effects of poverty, environmental degradation, and geographical isolation.
Many of these groups have limited access to the resources they need on these small islands. Essentially, if it doesn't grow out of the ground, it has to be shipped into the country. The increased costs associated with international shipping puts further strain on the limited budgets of these small groups.
ACQUIRE
After identifying the needs of our partner organizations in the field, we find manufacturers and distributors to donate goods or materials specific to the mission of our partner agencies.
Oftentimes, donors can find a way to keep overruns, factory seconds, rejects or manufacturing byproduct from going into the waste stream by donating product that can't be sold in first run markets.
With access to the right resources and materials, our partner groups become empowered to fulfill their missions.
PROVIDE
We receive donated goods and products from all over the United States at our location in Southern California. Upon receipt, the donations are inventoried, prepared, and transferred into shipping containers for transport to our partners in remote parts of the world.
While we are working in the background, our partner organizations can move forward with their missions without getting weighed down having to work through the logistics of locating and transporting the products and materials they need in a remote location
Our Projects
Tokoni Tech
Connecting Students to the 21st Century
To support the students in The Kingdom of Tonga, our flagship project is refurbishing laptop computers and getting them into classrooms and students' hands so the next generations will learn to work with computers, the Internet, and developing technologies. Hands-on learning is essential to developing valuable skills required in the 21st century.
The dual purpose of this project is the environmental benefit of keeping the donated laptops out of the waste stream while they still have tremendous value to others. The average laptop computer is in use about 2.5 years prior to user upgrade, but the hardware remains serviceable for 5+ years. For less than the price of a movie ticket, a donated laptop can be refurbished and used by a student for another 2-3 years.
Tidy Up Tonga
Picking Up The World's Trash
Tidy Up Tonga is a group out of New Zealand that cleans up the beaches and the mangrove swamps throughout the Kingdom. During their first three months in operation, they collected over five hundred 33-gallon trash bags of garbage - garbage that floats up from all over the world!
Their organization's operating costs are relatively low, and they use all volunteer workers for the clean ups, but the garbage bags used for collections and gloves for the volunteers are difficult and expensive to acquire.
With this initiative, we organize donations of trash bags and gloves from manufacturers and distributors.
Help Us
$25
helps us purchase needed supplies that aren't donated.
$65
covers the cost of one replacement filter element
$135
covers the cost of one water filter - keeping over 40,000 plastic bottles out of the ocean!
Any Amount Helps!
About Us
JEFFREY BENNETT
CO-FOUNDER
Jeff was raised in Davis, CA. In 1988, to avoid becoming a Banana Slug, he moved south to attend UC Santa Barbara. After earning a degree in Microbiology, Jeff served in the Peace Corps in The Kingdom of Tonga; during his service, Jeff met and married his wife, Mele. Jeff's son, George, was born while Jeff was serving in Tonga.
Upon returning to the States with his new family, Jeff found work in the labs at University of California, Davis. While Jeff continued to advance his career, his daughter, Brenda, was born.
More recently, Brenda and Mele moved to Tonga for Brenda to finish school and gain roots in the Tongan culture; Mele works to receive the donation shipments and support the Tokoni Mālohi projects in the field.
He currently lives in Sacramento, CA with George, and currently obsesses about the claustrum as the Neuroanatomy Lab Leader for the Bliss-Moreau Lab at UC Davis.
Jeff's aim and drive is to help the schools and the youth of the Pacific Islands to become familiar with the tools and skills of the 21st century.
HENRY BABCOCK
CO-FOUNDER
Henry was born and raised in New York City. In 1988, tired of concrete and cold weather, he moved west to California to attend UC Santa Barbara. After earning a degree in Environmental Sciences, he did some travelling around the world, including a visit with Jeff during his stint in the Peace Corps in Tonga.
After his travels, Henry returned to Santa Barbara, earned a degree in Marine Diving Technology and worked as a technical diver and SCUBA instructor in the Santa Barbara and Channel Islands area.
Eventually, Henry crawled ashore to attend law school, only to learn that he didn't want to be a lawyer! Still interested in the law, he found work as a paralegal for a firm in Ventura, CA.
He currently lives in Ojai, CA with his wife, Susan, and dedicates his time to building Tokoni Mālohi into a sustainable nonprofit organization.
Henry's aim and drive is to capture the "extra" generated by American society and transfer it to the people of the Pacific Islands.
Contact
Tokoni Mālohi
Get in touch with us to learn more
about our work and how you can get involved.
Tokoni Mālohi
PO Box 625
Ojai, CA 93024
All donations are tax deductible as allowed by US law. 501(c)(3) EIN: 85-3748991