April 14, 2021

Aloha, Fellow Republicans!

As I ponder the last year and realize just how difficult it was for so many of our families, I am eternally grateful to God Almighty for keeping my family safe and healthy, especially my daughter and daughter-in-law who are COVID nurses. I am humbled by the fact that we had food on our table every night, and I cannot tell you how my heart ached knowing so many of our keiki were struggling with hunger. With that in mind, even though our economy seems to be returning, I nonetheless implore you to contribute to Foodbank.

As a reminder, The Hawaii Federation of Republican Women are about: (1) learning issues affecting our communities; (2) participating in the legislative process; (3) mentoring other conservative women.

Our greatest concerns since President Trump is no longer our President are numerous, but our focus should be supporting efforts at keeping our Constitutional rights in place, and you can help by: (1) joining up with The Keep the Nine Amendment (keepnine.org) national coalition; (2) becoming a member of the Heritage Foundation and participating in their webinars; (3) taking free Constitution 101 and 201 classes offered by Hillsdale College; and partnering with the Hawaii Firearms Coalition (“HIFICO”).

Speaking of the Constitution, my good friend, Steve Bischoff (who I know from volunteer work with the Convention of States grassroots movement here in Hawaii) sent me a 5-Star(!) video made by his granddaughter, Mikena, which I am so proud to share and post on our HFRW website. It is an extraordinary video because it reaffirmed my belief there are young people learning our Constitution well. Students such as Mikena will value their freedoms, understand how difficult it was forming our country, and no doubt will defend America in the future. For me, I will always remember that over 3 million American lives have been lost fighting tyranny.

Since we are on videos, Susan Hughes, HFRW member from the Big Island, sent me a very thought-provoking one on vaccine passports. We should all do more research on this issue because I see it as a further obstacle to traveling freely within our own country! Most importantly, I wholeheartedly believe the vaccine passport is also an invasion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act aka HIPAA. In short, HIPAA protects patient information.

It is the HFRW plan to help inform our Republican brothers and sisters about some horrible things the ultra-left is doing; hence, I am posting several pieces of legislation, under the Legislative tab. Some of our HFRW members drafted bills and resolutions for submittal to the legislature which were introduced. Our Republican legislators are greatly outnumbered (only 5 out of 76), and we understand getting legislation passed that they introduce is extremely difficulty. Therefore, to Representatives Ward, McDermott, Okimoto, and Matsumoto and Senator Fevella, we, nonetheless, wholeheartedly appreciate you and your staffs’ assistance for having the courage to introduce bold legislation. You will always have our undying support!

Other updates to our website are new Imprimis articles; and a change to the Donate/Renew page. I was reminded that we do not have lifetime memberships. We are also not a Political Action Committee.

We are always looking for good, conservative women who enjoy getting their sleeves dirty, so to speak, so if you are interested come join us! Men can be associate members, but, unfortunately, have no voting rights. And, yes, I know I will get ribbed about that statement.

Until my next newsletter, may God bless you and your ohana and keep all of you safe and healthy!

My fondest regards,
Donna Van Osdol
President, Hawaii Federation of Republican Women
Leader, Task Force on Human Trafficking, National Federation of Republican Women
HD36, Delegate, Rules Committee