LIHU‘E — Thanksgiving is less than a week away and on Thursday, the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank and its agencies hosted the annual turkey distribution at sites throughout the island. “This is tradition,” said Kelvin Moniz, KIFB food operations manager.
LIHU‘E — Thanksgiving is less than a week away and on Thursday, the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank and its agencies hosted the annual turkey distribution at sites throughout the island.
“This is tradition,” said Kelvin Moniz, KIFB food operations manager. “We want the families to have at least a Thanksgiving meal. In addition to the turkeys, we’re providing hapa rice, green beans and corn.”
KIFB secured 1,000 turkeys for the distribution which received help from the Kaua‘i Government Employees Federal Credit Union volunteers who showed up early Thursday morning.
KGEFCU manager Corinne King did double-duty, starting her morning at the KIFB facility in Nawiliwili before moving to the Salvation Army, Lihu‘e Corps where she helped the Rotary Club of Kaua‘i distribute Thanksgiving packages to those who had signed up ahead of time for the turkey meals.
Tina Brun of the St. Rafael’s Church in Koloa was one of the early agencies to receive its Thanksgiving allocations, Brun needing to be back at the church where volunteers from the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center joined St. Rafael volunteers to package Thanksgiving meals for the homeless and needy.
“It’s really hard right now with the holidays around the corner,” Moniz said. “There are many people who have to make choices between food and other items such as rent and utilities. There’s just not enough to go around for holidays.”
These are some of the clients who signed up for meals from the KIFB agencies around the island.
“We’re packing 50 packages and 35 boxes for the homeless and needy families,” Brun said. “But there’s going to be more because people are still calling.”
To help alleviate the storage of the completed packages, Brun said St. Rafael’s was hosting its own distribution Thursday afternoon for families. The distribution for homeless is scheduled for Saturday when volunteers will canvas the Westside at the different sites where homeless are known to frequent.
In addition to the food, the St. Rafael’s Church group also received contributions of towels, blankets and jackets from the Shioi Construction Company and the St. Rafael’s Church parishoners, these items being included with the distribution.
“It’s getting cold out there,” Brun said. “A lot of the people don’t have things to help them during this kind of weather.”
She said St. Rafael’s hosts distributions three times per year — Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.
“But we try to have something for people who need at any time during the month,” Brun said. “If they call between Mondays through Fridays, we have a small pantry and we can always find some food for them.”
She said when she took over the pantry six years ago after retiring from the hotel industry, one of the first things she learned was to keep the pantry full in the event of an emergency.
“We have a good supply of food,” Brun said. “And, before school starts, we even have some school supplies we distribute to children. I just love doing this. I told the ministers that no matter what happens, just let me keep on doing this.”
Moniz said the KIFB just needs food, especially during this time of the year when people need food.
“Our demand for food has increased 35 percent and emergency food requests are more than 12,000 each month,” Moniz said. “This trend has been ongoing for the past several months.”
The KIFB is currently working its Holiday Food and Fund Drive through December with goals of 40,000 pounds of food and $40,000.
“Right now, we have several schools — Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, Elsie Wilcox Elementary School, Kalaheo Elementary School and Koloa Elementary School — who will be conducting food drives,” Moniz said. “The Kaua‘i Marriott and Kaua‘i Lagoons also are conducting a food drive, but even with that, right now the food collection total is about 8,000 pounds of its 40,000-pound goal. Cash receipts are about one-third of the $40,000 goal.”
Moniz said people who want to contribute can drop off nonperishable food items at any of the fire stations located around the island from Hanalei to Waimea.
They can also drop off at KIFB’s warehousesNawiliwili from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Visit www.kauaifoodbank.org, or call 246-3809 for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
