February 6, 2020 – Servco presented Palama Settlement with a $22,000 check today, raised from 2019 sales of the limited edition Toyota Sport Bag, which launched last year in celebration of Servco’s 100th anniversary. The bags were sold in Servco’s parts shops and were a thank you gift with new car purchases.
Back in the 1960s, Tom Fukunaga saw children at Palama Settlement carrying their baseball gear to a game without any bags. Determined to help Hawaii’s disadvantaged youth, the second-generation Servco president created a program to provide free sport bags to community athletic teams. The Toyota Sport Bag was a hit and, by the early 1980s, Servco was giving away tens of thousands of bags a year. The bag went through several iterations, turning each version into a collector’s item, especially once the program was discontinued in the early 1990s.
In honor of Servco’s 100th anniversary, the company created a replica of the beloved Toyota bag. All profits from the sale of each bag were donated to Palama Settlement on Oahu and Big Brothers Big Sisters on the Neighbor Islands.
Palama Settlement is so grateful for Servco’s longstanding support. The generous contribution will go to support programs that serve keiki and kupuna in the Kalihi community – including the Pakolea youth athletic program, which first inspired the Sport Bag and is still going strong today.