LIHU‘E — When 31 adults and about four or five youngsters turned out Saturday to help the Kauai Food Bank, there was a mission these volunteers had on their minds as they spent the day stapling envelopes to brown grocery
LIHU‘E — When 31 adults and about four or five youngsters turned out Saturday to help the Kauai Food Bank, there was a mission these volunteers had on their minds as they spent the day stapling envelopes to brown grocery bags in preparation for the food bank’s annual Holiday Food Drive.
Katie Beer, the service chair for the Zontans, said she was worried about getting the required number of volunteers, but Karen Davis of the Regency at Puakea showed up with a bus from the assisted-living apartment project that had over a half a dozen volunteers who did not hesitate in rolling up their sleeves to help out.
The volunteer effort to help the Kauai Food Bank yielded a $10,000 grant from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation that was earmarked for the Salvation Army, Lihu‘e Corps, to help launch a soup kitchen, the Kokua Soup Kitchen, that will help provide hot meals for Kaua‘i’s homeless and needy.
“It’s the first soup kitchen on Kaua‘i,” said Capt. Mitham Clement and James Itamura of the Salvation Army. Beer pondered the subject, and agreed, “We have food pantries and food banks, but no place that serves hot food.”
One of the biggest stumbling blocks towards getting the kitchen operational was recently overcome when Clement displayed the coveted state Department of Health approval for the commercial kitchen facilities located in the Salvation Army’s Hardy Street location.
“It (the clearance process) was a long process, and at the same time, it was fun,” said Clement.
Clement explained that the soup kitchen is scheduled for a “dry run” on Tuesday, Oct. 5, with a grand opening scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 16, and the first meals being served on Tuesday, Oct. 19.
Preliminary estimates has Clement planning to feed between 30 to 40 people a week. The start-up will be slow, Clement explained. They will start with meals being served on Tuesday, but eventually, target serving six and possibly seven meals each week.
“It’s going to be a big thing,” Itamura said.
The long process greeted Clement when he arrived on Kaua‘i three years ago.
“It was on the table (of the Community Advisory Board),” he explained. Clement pointed out the amount of help the organization’s leaders and volunteers have received in the form of grants as well as volunteerism over the three years.
The Marine Corps League did a lot of the carpentry work in getting the kitchen facility upgraded, Clement said. And, now that they are done here, they are working at the Hanapepe Corps, where they plan to open another kitchen in the future.
Clement said about $30,000 worth of upgrades were done to the kitchen to get it approved. Help came in form of grants from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation – Kaua‘i Fund, the G.N. Wilcox Trust, the Dora Isenberg Trust, the Kiwanis Club of Kaua‘i, and a group from Princeville that contributed $11,000 from a fund-raising effort there.
Clement also pointed out the support they received from the Kauai Food Bank, the Rotary Club of Kauai, and the Kauai United Way.
“The Kauai Food Bank has committed to provide fresh vegetables and fruits for the kitchen, and the other organizations are looking at ways they can help,” Clement said.
The soup-kitchen project comes on the heels of the Salvation Army relocating their thrift store from adjacent to Midpac Auto Center to the newly acquired building, the former Kress Store, on Rice Street.
Clement said that facility will be celebrating a soft opening this morning.
“It’s been a watershed year for the Salvation Army,” Itamura said as he mulled the opening of the soup kitchen that will be centered at the Hardy Street location. “It’s amazing what you can do when you’re forced to do it.
“We have a strong advisory board,” Itamura said, praising each of the members. “And, we’re going to get stronger. The manager of the Hyatt Regency (Kauai Resort & Spa) has had experience with the Salvation Army while he was in Seattle, and he’s expressed an interest in sharing that with the board.”
Additionally, while these major projects have been addressed, Itamura noted that none of the other services to clients have been affected.
Clement agreed, adding, “It’s been a good year. But, this is the kind of things we like to do.”
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
