rally the community behind
Stars at Home fundraiser
Granting wishes truly takes a community of caring individuals and corporate partners from around the state coming together to support our mission in a variety of ways. From our first meeting with Mike Rompel, franchisee at Domino’s Hawaii, we knew that this would be an important partnership that would make a lasting difference in the lives of our wish ‘ohana—and soon, the perfect opportunity presented itself.
With travel wishes on hold and significant financial challenges brought on by COVID-19 last March, we began brainstorming unique ways to safely rally the community behind our waiting wish kids and raise essential funds to grant their wishes. The idea for our first-ever virtual talent show, Stars at Home, was born. The show invited community members to submit one-minute videos of their unique talents. Votes were then cast for each video through $5 gifts—virtual “high fives” to our waiting wish keiki. As we thought about potential sponsors who could resonate with this initiative and provide a fun, at-home prize for our winners, Domino’s emerged as a natural fit. With their support, we could offer our top fundraisers an at-home pizza party to celebrate their win.
When we contacted Mike Rompel with the idea, he was immediately invested, confirming the company’s sponsorship and a generous match right away. In true Make-A-Wish fashion, though, Mike didn’t stop there. After the talent show exceeded its initial goal within the first day, Mike engaged his friend from Jersey Mike’s Subs Hawaii to come on as an additional sponsor, with the two companies matching funds donated by the community. Ultimately, the talent show more than tripled its goal and our winners—including a wish kid, Young Leaders Board member, and community supporter—all donated the pizza parties they had won back to wish families and to a local medical team that treats cancer patients, further spreading the life-changing message of hope.
After the incredible success of this event thanks to Domino’s support, Mike sought other ways for the company to help make wishes come true. A few months later, he joined our 22-person volunteer Board of Directors, guiding our team in fundraising, philanthropy, and community awareness efforts to support our vision of granting life-changing wishes to every eligible child in the state of Hawaii fighting a critical illness. In this role, he and his team have since helped grant wishes like Anela’s wish to have a Frozen princess picnic, transferring snow in their refrigerated truck to create a winter wonderland. He also supported our Swing for Wishes golf tournament this fall by donating Domino’s gift cards for each player.
Mike brings a wealth of experience and heart to our leadership team. He has been a Domino’s Pizza manager and franchisee for nearly 30 years, having overseen eight stores and 75 employees by the age of 19. He purchased his first store in 1998 in downtown San Francisco before first coming to Hawaii in 2005 to assist with a friend’s franchise. He then went on to settle on Oahu, purchasing six Domino’s Hawaii locations and building a brand that now includes over 800 team members across 24 locations.
An accomplished businessman and hard worker, Mike is also a devout Christian driven by his faith. He and his family strive to leave a legacy of serving others, “[giving all they can] to represent an American dream of being able to openly practice their Christian faith of loving the Lord their God, and loving their neighbors as themselves with hearts to share the prosperity they have been blessed with.”
We are incredibly grateful for Mike’s heart and dedication to our mission, and we thank him and his team at Domino’s Hawaii for their generous support at a time when it was needed most.
When asked why he supports Make-A-Wish Hawaii, Mike says,