Why we started this

My family is Native Hawaiian — the Spencers, originally from Waimea and Papaʻaloa on the Big Island. My father was born there, joined the Army, and spent years moving our family across Europe and the mainland. I was born on a base in Italy. We lived all over.

But no matter where we were, we knew we were coming home to Hawaiʻi. That knowledge made everything easier.

I made it back for good — or so I thought — when the Navy home-ported me to Pearl Harbor. But the economics didn’t work. I eventually left again, finished college in Oregon, built a career in San Francisco. I came back every year to visit, which is what you do when the island is in you and you can’t afford to stay.

Then my father — 95 years old — got a letter from Hawaiian Homelands about a land offering. My wife and I flew to Hilo to look at it for him. Something about standing on that land for my dad — knowing he might come home to it — clarified what I’d been carrying my whole life.

Digital Piko started there.

It’s for everyone like me — the kānaka and local families who had to leave because the math didn’t work. For the keiki who deserve a path that lets them stay. For the off-island ʻohana who carry the islands with us, and for kamaʻāina at home making it work every day. Our roots connect us.

Every piece we make funds Hāna Lima Youth Foundation — bridging Hawaiian high schoolers into paid skilled-trades apprenticeships, so the next generation has a door home. Read more about the mission.