LIHU‘E — There is an unprecedented need for food, but Kristen Collins said it is not just about feeding the hungry. The assistant director for the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank said the goal is not just to dole out meals,
LIHU‘E — There is an unprecedented need for food, but Kristen Collins said it is not just about feeding the hungry.
The assistant director for the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank said the goal is not just to dole out meals, but to offer nutritious, healthy food.
The goal for the KIFB Spring Healthy Food and Fund Drive is the same as the recently completed holiday drive — 40,000 pounds of food and $40,000.
Contribution bags and envelopes are enclosed in today’s edition of The Garden Island, and may be dropped off at any of the fire stations on the island or at the KIFB offices in Nawiliwili.
In January, KIFB serviced more than 11,800 requests for emergency food needs, Collins said.
“This is about a 75 percent increase from the 2008 figures,” Collins said. “The KIFB has never in 16 years seen numbers this high.”
The January requests are only a bit lower than the nearly 13,000 requests processed by KIFB in December, said Kelvin Moniz, the KIFB food director.
Food is being distributed through 51 sites around the island for people in need, Moniz said. The biggest increase in demand has been coming from the North Shore and Westside.
“With the current economic tough times, about 20 percent of the island is facing the situation of either paying bills or feeding the family,” Collins said. “We’re looking at post-Hurricane Iniki numbers in terms of people needing help.”
Collins said in 2010, KIFB distributed more than 730,650 pounds of food.
This breaks down to about 973,000 meals for about 116,000 people throughout the year.
The monthly demand is about 11,000 unduplicated requests, Collins said, based on the 2010 Hunger Study.
Collins noted that in the past two years of economic recession, the demand for food requests more than doubled from approximately 50,000 to 116,000.
“We’re one of the smallest food banks in the state, but we are able to feed the largest percentage of the local population,” Moniz said. “This is due to the support we receive from the community.”
Despite this growing need for food from people, Collins said KIFB is proud to point out that 94 percent of the food distributed was healthy and nutritious.
To help contributors, KIFB notes that the eight most wanted nutritious food items include brown, or hapa rice (a blend of white and brown rice), canned soups, canned vegetables, canned tuna, Pediasure/Ensure, pasta, peanut butter and canned fruits.
A major food collection is scheduled for April 9 at several locations around the island.
Volunteers are needed to help man the different collection sites on this push for the Spring Healthy Food and Fund Drive, Moniz said.
“This is just another way people can help with the effort to keep others healthy and fed,” Moniz said.
He pointed out that while the two big drives in the year do a lot to help meet the needs of feeding the hungry, there are other ways people can help.
“People who have fruit falling off their trees in the backyard can call us,” Moniz said. “This is the gleaning program where we can use the excess fruit or vegetables people have to help feed others.”
The Plant-A-Row initiative is another popular movement that appears to be catching on around the island, Moniz said.
“This way, farmers, schools, and even the community can help with the effort to help feed others,” Moniz said.
Simply stated, Plant-A-Row has the farmer, school, or home gardener planting an extra row of whatever produce they want and the harvest from that extra row is contributed to KIFB.
Moniz said currently, schools from Hanalei to Kekaha have expressed interest, or started growing gardens in the program, which is backed by the Kaua‘i Agricultural Initiative and Malama Kaua‘i.
Moniz said he received word from Melissa McFerrin that the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau would also lend its support to this program.
In addition to helping fulfill emergency food requests from hungry people around the island, KIFB also participates actively in vocational rehabilitation, the Keiki Cafe through the Boys and Girls Club, Waimea Clubhouse, the Back Pack program for young people on the Eastside of Kaua‘i, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program which has secured more than $1.3 million in new food stamp dollars.
Visit www.kauaifoodbank.org or call 246-3809 for more information.
