The Kaua’i Food Bank hopes to receive donations of 20,000 pounds of food and $20,000 in cash by the end of the annual Spring Food and Fund Drive, which ends Saturday. Since March 1, the food bank has collected about
The Kaua’i Food Bank hopes to receive donations of 20,000 pounds of food and $20,000 in cash by the end of the annual Spring Food and Fund Drive, which ends Saturday. Since March 1, the food bank has collected about 10,000 pounds of food and almost $10,000.
“We’re about halfway there, but it ends this week. We need a miracle…and it could happen,” said Judy Lenthall, executive director of the food bank.
“Kaua’i is not doing so good,” Lenthall said. According to ‘declaration of need’ forms families have to complete to get food, 1,957 said they needed food after the terrorist attacks on September 11, which accounts for most of the increase, she said.
Anyone who needs food can go to their church or any of the other 105 Kaua’i social service agencies and non-profit groups who get items from the food bank. The Kaua’i Food Bank estimates it is now feeding about 14 percent of the island’s population – nearly 8,500 people in March alone. In 2001 the organization fed an average of 5,000 people per month, or 8-10 percent of the island’s population.
“We don’t measure our success on how many people we feed, but by how many people we don’t feed,” said Judy Lenthall, executive director.
The spring food drive collects only about 6 percent of what the food bank need year-round, but “it’s the gold …the good stuff,” said Tiffani Sugai, development and community relations manager, said. With partnerships from groceries and other businesses, the food bank is able to get more expensive items from grocery store customers who want to help.
The Hunger Study, conducted by the University of Hawaii in 2001, revealed that children account for half of the people fed by the food bank, and 25 percent are elderly, but Lenthall and Sugai agree that the food bank is still not reaching all those who need help.
The biggest roadblock to helping people is getting past their pride. Moniz and Lenthall agreed the hardest groups to reach are military veterans and the elderly, who seem to think they shouldn’t accept assistance from anyone outside their family unit.
Receiving help can also cause unfair judgment, according to Lenthall. “I don’t need help; I’d rather starve than be seen as greedy; help my neighbor instead,” is an attitude Kaua’i people seem to adopt to save their pride. Many people think the food bank is only for welfare recipients, said Kelvin Moniz, operations manager.
“People ask me, ‘How do we qualify for food?’ The ‘qualification’ is if you are in need. It can be ‘I need food for three days to carry me over until pay day,'” Moniz said.
That’s where churches and non-profit groups come in. Pastors can see if a family needs help, or families will ask their church. Women with children especially know they need to get help for their kids, Moniz said.
Although the overall mission of the Kaua’i Food Bank is to get food to those who need it, it reaches beyond feeding the hungry. They also have a job training program that works with the departments of Vocational Rehabilitation and Workforce Development, as well as Alu Like and Friendship House.
The Hui Mea’ai program, started in 1998, is a program that teaches people how to farm their own vegetables, to promote food security and economic development. About 60 growers participate in the program. The food bank buys their Grade A produce and sells it to grocers, hotels and restaurants, and distributes to seniors in poverty. “The Hui” provided almost 460,000 pounds of produce to poverty seniors in 2001 through a USDA grant.
The Kaua’i Food Bank is adding another goal to its wish list: To become a certified affiliate of America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest network of food banks.
If the Kaua’i Food Bank can pass their strict inspections and audits to step up operations to the next level, they will certainly meet their overall goal of ensuring food security for all of Kaua’i’s residents. The Kaua’i Food Bank will be able to provide food to residents more cost-effectively by partnering with about 200 food banks across the country.
The Kaua’i Food Bank needs volunteers for its everyday operations, in areas as diverse as warehouse stocking to farm work to office duties.
They accept food and monetary donations all year round, and non-perishable foods can be dropped off at any of the seven fire stations. For every dollar donated, the Kaua’i Food Bank can distribute $16 of food through America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization.
For more information or to volunteer please call the Kaua’i Food Bank at 246-3809.
Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).
