The Pokemon Company donates $200k to Hawai'i following Championships 2024 location reveal
This comes as the island of Maui continues to suffer from wildfire damage.
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Following the announcement that the next Pokemon World Championship was being held in Honolulu, The Pokemon Company has announced it has donated $200k to the Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund.
The 2023 Pokemon World Championships took place over the weekend in Yokohama, Japan, where it was announced that Honolulu, the capital of Hawai'i, would be where the next tournament is held in 2024. However, over the past week, a wildfire broke out on the island of Maui, causing huge amounts of damage to the area and resulting in numerous deaths. As a result, right after the announcement The Pokemon Company International shared a statement that it would be donating to the Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund.
"Our hearts go out to all those who have been impacted by the devastating wildfires in Hawai'i," reads the statement. The Pokemon Company made the donation through its partner at GlobalGiving - you can click on the link here to make a donation to support the fund yourself.
The decision to host the next World Championship in Honolulu obviously would have been made a long time prior to its announcement, but it has been controversial amongst some even ignoring the ongoing wildfires. Numerous responses to the decision to bring the tournament to Honolulu pointed out how native Hawai'in's have been asking tourists to stop coming due to the negative environmental impacts made by tourism.
Notably, Aquaman and Game of Thrones actor, and more importantly native Hawai'in, Jason Momoa shared a post on Instagram telling people to not travel to Maui. "Maui is not the place to have your vacation right now," wrote Momoa. "Do not travel to Maui. Do not convince yourself that your presence is needed on an island suffering this deeply."
Others were also critical of the donation amount, noting how much The Pokemon Company makes each year, and how little $200,000 is compared to what they could have offered (for context, last year The Pokemon Company reported a net profit of $320 million for the year before).
The Pokemon World Championships are currently slated to be held summer 2024.