Prayers poured in for the family of Tulsi Gabbard on Friday after the former Hawaii political office holder announced her resignation as director of national intelligence in Washington, D.C., to support her husband battling bone cancer.

Gabbard’s father, state Sen. Mike Gabbard, said in a statement with wife Carol that their daughter and son-in-law Abraham Williams, along with the whole family, have been receiving overwhelming messages of support and love, and that people are praying for Williams as he fights a rare form of cancer.

“Tulsi and Abraham are loved by so many across our country, and it’s very heartwarming for us as parents,” the Gabbards said. “They’re so grateful for all the aloha and prayers of support they’re receiving, and send their aloha and thanks to everyone back home in Hawaii.”

Gov. Josh Green, an emergency room physician, conveyed well-wishes for Gabbard and her husband.

“The Governor respects her decision to step down to care for her husband and wishes them the strength and comfort they both will need,” Makana McClellan, the governor’s director of communications, said in a statement.

Gabbard, a former Honolulu City Council member who later also represented parts of Hawaii as a Democrat in the state Legislature and in Congress before heaping criticism on and leaving the party in 2022 after a failed 2020 presidential bid, was picked by Republican President Donald Trump in November 2024 to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence after she helped him achieve victory in his bid to return to the White House.

Among social media messages Gabbard reposted on her X account from others Friday were expressions of love and support for Gabbard and her husband from people including Vice President JD Vance.

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) said in a statement, “Public service is a calling, but family always comes first. I respect the difficult decision Tulsi had to make, and send my prayers and aloha to Abraham and his ohana as they focus on his recovery.”

Bob McDermott, vice chair of the Hawaii Republican Party, acknowledged that Gabbard may not be too popular from a political standpoint in Hawaii where government is dominated by Democrats, but said she still has strong local roots and is a person not only defined by politics.

“We often forget that these people (in political office) are real people,” he said. “I mean Tulsi is na keiki o ka aina. She grew up here. She went to school here. She served our National Guard. Now, she’s not real popular back here, I guess, but she’s still a real person. … I will pray for her.”

McDermott, a former state lawmaker, said Gabbard in his view did a good job in the Cabinet-level position delivering intelligence assessments to the president as the leader of a coalition of 18 federal organizations that include the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Other observers have a different take, but acknowledge that Trump makes it hard for appointees to find lasting success in their jobs.

University of Hawaii political scientist Colin Moore considers Gabbard’s record to be mixed at best, and probably not particularly successful by normal standards of the DNI role.

“Since most of the DNI’s work is classified, it’s hard to judge her success, but her tenure seemed rather turbulent to me,” Moore said in an email. “Given the chaotic nature of Trump’s foreign policy decision-making, it probably would have been impossible for anyone to succeed in this position. But her lack of experience and the general hostility of the intelligence community to her appointment and views, made it even more difficult.”

Moore said Gabbard’s non-interventionist views, which include opposing regime-change wars, helped Gabbard stand apart from the foreign policy establishment but as ODNI director seemed to create trust problems with the intelligence community and more hawkish members of the Trump administration.

Gabbard’s position was established to be an honest broker of intelligence and not primarily an ideological voice in foreign policy debates, according to Moore.

“That was always going to be a difficult transition for her and I don’t think she succeeded,” he said. “Again, much of this was due to Trump’s own mercurial temperament. If he had truly embraced a non-interventionist foreign policy, Gabbard may have had a more successful tenure.”

Gabbard, in a letter to Trump announcing her decision to resign effective June 30 to help support her husband after he was recently diagnosed with what she said is an extremely rare form of bone cancer, expressed deep gratitude the trust the president put in her to lead ODNI.

“Abraham has been my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role,” Gabbard wrote. “His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge. I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

Gabbard signed off the letter with “love and aloha.”

Born in American Samoa, Gabbard moved to Hawaii with her family in 1983 at age 2. She was first elected to office in 2002 when she successfully ran to represent parts of Leeward Oahu including Waipahu, Honouliuli and Ewa in the state House of Representatives.

Gabbard, a 21-year-old martial arts instructor at the time, became the youngest person elected to Hawaii’s Legislature.

Prior to becoming a state lawmaker, Gabbard had supported a campaign against same-sex marriage in the 1990s by the advocacy group Alliance for Traditional Marriage, which was founded by her father, a former Republican lawmaker who became a Democrat in 2007. Currently, he represents the Kapolei-­Makakilo-Kalaeloa district.

In 2004, Gabbard was prohibited from continuing to serve as a lawmaker because of Hawai’i National Guard rules that said an active-­duty member can’t hold office. Gabbard had enlisted in the Guard in 2003 and a year later volunteered for active-duty deployment in a unit providing medical support for the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade.

Gabbard deployed to Iraq in 2004 and to Kuwait in 2008.

After serving as a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Gabbard was elected in 2011 to the Honolulu City Council representing downtown Honolulu, Alewa Heights, Kalihi Valley, and portions of Makiki and Kalihi. She resigned in 2012 to run for a U.S. House seat, which she won. She served four terms in Congress representing rural Oahu and the neighbor islands from 2013 to 2021.

During her campaign for Congress, Gabbard met Williams, a cinematographer. In 2015, the then-­33-year-old Gabbard married the then-26-year-old Williams next to a historic fishpond in Kahaluu.

In 2020, after opting not to run for a fifth term in Congress, Gabbard contended for the Democratic Party’s nomination to be president.

During her presidential bid that failed to get much traction, Gabbard apologized for her past work with the Alliance for Traditional Marriage.

Moore said that Gabbard’s stepping away from political office due to family health conditions doesn’t mean she can’t return to the national political stage.

“She has a clear identity in conservative politics, a national following, and military credentials,” he said. “She is far better positioned in national conservative politics than in Hawaii — and she almost certainly could return to her previous role as a political commentator if she wants to.”

The Fundraising platform FlipCause filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December, according to court documents. But the Oakland-based company owes more than $29 million to charities nationwide, including two in Idaho.

Allison Terenzio-Moody is the executive director of the Treasure Valley Children’s Theater. They put on productions for youth in the Boise Area like High School Musical Jr., and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Before the company went bankrupt, she used FlipCause to take donations, sell tickets to performances and manage classes. The company owes her organization about $20,000, and she’s not sure she’ll ever see it.

“Basically, they took money away from our kids, and they took money away from our donors,” she said.

In November, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a cease and desist order to Flipcause to stop all operations, including taking charitable donations.

“Donors placed their trust in Flipcause to ensure their contributions reached those in need. Instead, charities are experiencing significant financial stress due to the platform holding these funds back. This is simply unacceptable,” said Attorney General Bonta in a statement on the California Department of Justice website.

”I’ve basically been told that, that money’s gone. You’re not going to see it, so you need to move on,” Terenzio-Moody said.

Despite switching to a new app and fundraising in December and January, Terenzio-Moody said the nonprofit is still operating in the negative.

“I want to make sure people know that we aren’t going anywhere,” Terenzio-Moody said. “We are so in love with what we do and the community that we create for young people. Our education programs and our productions are going to continue, but we need some help.”

Most of her efforts are focused on fundraising to recoup the lost costs, and Terenzio-Moody said that’s taken the focus away from the organization’s education programs.

Up in Hayden, Ds Connections – a nonprofit that helps people with Down Syndrome – also lost around $20,000 from FlipCause. But they’ve had better luck in turning things around.

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Susan Villelli, founder and board president at the nonprofit, said the organization was able to raise all the lost funding and more after an Idaho Gives campaign, and the support of the local North Idaho community.

“We have not lost any programs, or canceled anything due to the FlipCause case, and because our budget is now back to its original design for 2025, it’s full steam ahead with everything as planned, including new projects,” she said.

There is a new wrinkle in the bankruptcy case which could allow these nonprofits to recoup some of their losses after all. Last month, Jeffrey T. Testa, the trustee for FlipCause, asked a Delaware court to convert the case to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and the motion was granted.

“The trustee has been given the authority to try to claw back some of that money for the nonprofits,” Heidi K. Abegg, a lawyer in Washington D.C. who has clients who are owed money by FlipCause.

Terenzio-Moody said she plans to look into her legal options in light of the new developments, and Villelli said her nonprofit is going to fight for whatever funding they can recapture through the legal system.

For the last several years, it has become a tradition to kick off the Montana summer with an event that is not only free, but fun for all. Oh, and the best part? It’s right here in Bozeman!

The 5th Annual Family Promise Summer Kick-Off will take place at the Family Promise building on Saturday, June 13th from 1 pm until 4 pm.  The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

There will be lots of different activities including a dunk tank, inflatables for the kids, face painting, a photo booth, balloon animals, a DJ, games, crafts, and more. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the arrival of summer.

Did we mention there will be free food?

What can you expect?

For the 5th year in a row, there will be hot dogs and hamburgers/cheeseburgers, chips, and drinks. Oh, and don’t forget the sno cones! Plus, you can learn all about how Family Promise helps our community by serving those in need.

None of this would be possible without the help of our wonderful sponsors who make sure that this event is always a hit.

We want to thank the folks at Town and Country Foods, Harrington Pepsi, Tropical Sno, your local McDonald’s, and The Northern Rocky Mountain Group at Morgan Stanley. Their generosity is unmatched and we are grateful for their support in making sure this event happens each year.

Once again, it’s the Family Promise Summer Kick-Off and it happens on Saturday, June 13th from 1 pm until 4 pm. We’ll see you there!