The nonprofit Wai­kiki Community Center, which broke even for the first time in 2013 and finished 2014 with a surplus, is hoping the Duke Kaha­na­moku Beach Challenge, its annual signature watersports event, will keep it riding high.

"We have moved a lot forward from where we were a few years ago," said Caro­line Haya­shi, executive director of the Wai­kiki Community Center, which has been offering neighborhood services since 1978.

Hayashi said the center ended 2014 with a surplus of $200,000. As a result of its solvency, the 30-year-old center was able to re-roof and put gutters on its facility. With more than 10,000 hours of volunteer labor, it also was able to serve more people and offer more classes and activities last year, she said.

"It wasn’t about the numbers; it was all about the lives that you touched," Haya­shi recently told Wai­kiki Community Center volunteers at an annual recognition luncheon.

To be sure, the center experienced a 12 percent increase in senior classes with more than 3,000 people participating in 200 classes, and a 35 percent increase in its preschool enrollment. It also provided services to more than 20,000 people through its partnerships with seven other nonprofits, said Barbara Campbell, a Wai­kiki Community Center board member. At the same time, she said, senior case management services increased by 180 percent and emergency food assistance went to more than 1,000 people.

"Generous support from the business community in 2014 helped set records for the Duke Kaha­na­moku Beach Challenge and for the Na Mea gala," she said. "These events were our most successful ever."

Now the center is gearing up for the latest challenge, which will be one of its most important fundraisers this year. Duke Kaha­na­moku Beach Challenge festivities will kick off at 9 a.m. March 15 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Wai­kiki Beach Resort’s great lawn. There will be a double-hulled canoe procession, an oli (chant) and hula kahiko by Halau Hula ‘o Hoku­lani and kumu hula Hoku­lani DeRego and Larry DeRego.

"Waikiki Community Center plays such an important role for not only Wai­kiki residents, but visitors and workers as well," said Jerry Gibson, area vice president for Hilton Hawaii."The Duke Kaha­na­moku Challenge helps support the center’s many activities and services that are vital to the health of our community. Wai­kiki Community Center continues to help so many, and their staff performs at such a high level year in and year out that it is a sincere privilege for us to be a small part of their wonderful organization."

The competition starts at 10 a.m. Teams made up of local businesses, hotels and community groups pay to participate in the event’s signature outrigger canoe race, which is an open-ocean, quarter-mile competition available to all skill levels. Each team also will participate in the stand-up paddle race. The race will take place in Duke Kaha­na­moku Lagoon, where paddlers will race one length of the lagoon, starting at the makai end and finishing at the mauka end. A final awards presentation will be held at 2 p.m. at the great lawn. There is no charge for spectators to watch the races, the other competitions or the entertainment, which include some of Hawaii’s top musical artists such as the Royal Hawaiian Band, lyric soprano Cathy Foy, Halau Hula ‘o Nawa­hine, Te Vai Ura Nui, the Lyman ‘Ohana, Streetlight Cadence, Shining Star Band and Wai­puna.

Hayashi said this year’s challenge will be made even more special by the presence of the late Duke Paoa Kaha­na­moku’s family members. Kaha­na­moku, for whom the event is named, is known as Hawaii’s greatest waterman and earned fame as the "fastest swimmer alive." In his memory, his grandnieces and grandnephews — Elianne Pua­lani Kaha­na­moku, Cameron Hiapo Kaha­na­moku, Kina‘u Paoa and Kapule­nui Paoa — will be present.

Hayashi said funds raised from the popular watersports event, which dates from 1985, will enable the center to provide more tuition assistance for infant care and early education, provide more social services and offer a place for visitors, workers and residents to participate in community affairs, socialize and learn together.