One Family, Five Generations of Giving

Family philanthropy “was something ingrained ... growing up with a father so involved, giving his time as well as resources,” said Kristina Lyons Lambert, who succeeded her father, the late Michael H. Lyons II, as president of the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation. The Baldwin family’s record of community service on Maui is part of a pattern of giving that began with a promise made to God in a dusty cane field more than a century ago.

In the early 1870s, Henry P. Baldwin and his brother-in-law Samuel Alexander had just acquired a 12-acre sugar plantation on the slopes of Haleakalā between Pa‘ia and Makawao. One day, faced with a serious drought that threatened the fledgling plantation, H.P. Baldwin got off his horse and knelt in the middle of a field. He vowed that if God sent rain, he would faithfully give a portion of his earnings for God’s purposes.

The rain came, giving the partners time to find a long-term solution to their water problems. They built the Hāmākua ditch, the first of the major irrigation projects that would be key to the success of the sugar industry in the islands, and to Alexander & Baldwin in particular.

Baldwin’s wife, Emily Alexander Baldwin, joined her husband in charity work that included the establishment of schools, libraries, churches and other services, many of them intended to help the immigrant laborers who worked in the cane fields.

In 1910, Henry and Emily formalized their lifelong history of philanthropy by gifting the Maui community with a facility to house the elderly. They also established the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation to provide the home’s operating funds. Both the home and the Foundation were dedicated to the memory of their son.

When the home was closed during World War II, the assets of the Foundation were committed to a charitable grantmaking program supporting projects and programs serving Maui. Community involvement continued through succeeding generations, who supported projects begun by their forbearers as well as new ones designed to meet the changing needs of the county.

“I strongly believe that community service is an important aspect of everybody’s life,” Michael Lyons once said in an interview. “There are many different ways people can help the community, and many in this community fortunately do help.”

With the Trustees of the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation (multi-generations of cousins who have come to know each other because of the Foundation), Kristina looks forward to carrying on the Baldwin legacy through the support of charitable activities for the people of Maui County. She is guided by the family members who taught by example and those, who like her father, have a love and dedication for their island home.