A Message from the Hawaii Local President

Aloha Brothers and Sisters,

When the COVID-19 crisis emerged, our union and our local took the proactive approach of pausing gatherings and events as our way of preventing community spread and putting health at the top of our priorities. The safety of our members and staff remains paramount. To minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19, the SAG-AFTRA Hawaii office location was temporarily shut. All core services are fully functional and operations continue by telephone, email and digital communication.

This is an unprecedented time for our community, industry and union, and we’re remaining adaptable, innovative and fluid. The health of our community is most important, and I encourage each of us to do our part in keeping each other safe and healthy.

We understand in Hawaii that we hug, we honi, we gather in our special way to connect with others. But during this time, we want to do our part in keeping our communities safe and healthy by washing our hands, taking care not to touch our faces and practicing social distancing so as to not risk the health of others.

As you may have heard, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and the SAG-AFTRA Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund have created the COVID-19 Relief Fund that is available to eligible SAG-AFTRA members who have been impacted by this pandemic.

SAG-AFTRA members are eligible to apply to the Fund if they are currently active and paid-up on their dues through October 2019. The Fund covers members who are in an emergency financial crisis related to COVID-19 (the coronavirus) to cover basic expenses such as rent, mortgage, utilities, medical bills and other essential needs. To check your potential eligibility, click here.

The Actors Fund will assist by administering these resources on the ground. All applications are confidential and anonymous. They are already receiving thousands of requests. Please be patient. They are working as quickly as they can to respond to all applications.

Locally, if you need to contact our office, please call (808) 596-0388 or email mericia.palmaelmore@sagaftra.org. You can also contact SAG-AFTRA at (855) SAG-AFTRA. This phone number, along with the safety hotline, is on the back of your membership card and on your member app.

In solidarity and looking forward,

David C. Farmer
President, SAG-AFTRA Hawaii Local