LIHU‘E — Kukui Grove Center presented a $2,500 award to the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank, currently in the midst of its annual Spring Healthy Food and Fund Drive. “You do good work,” said Wade Lord, general manager of Kukui Grove,
LIHU‘E — Kukui Grove Center presented a $2,500 award to the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank, currently in the midst of its annual Spring Healthy Food and Fund Drive.
“You do good work,” said Wade Lord, general manager of Kukui Grove, in making the presentation to Frank Ranger, new executive director for KIFB, and Kelvin Moniz, the KIFB food resources manager. “This presentation is for the KIFB’s commitment to ongoing support of Kaua‘i’s residents through food donations, creating initiatives and pilot programs.”
Some of those KIFB initiatives include the Electronics Benefits Transfer at select county Sunshine Markets and the Kaua‘i Community Market, sponsored by the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau, at Kaua‘i Community College, where Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food stamp participants are able to utilize their EBT cards to make purchases from local farmers.
Additionally, KIFB works with the Boys and Girls Club in Kapa‘a to run the Backpack Program, that provides young people with backpacks filled with food on Fridays to help nourish them through the weekend. The program is in its fifth year and recently expanded to include two Ni‘ihau charter schools in Kekaha.
The Keiki Kafe, a collaborative effort with the Boys and Girls Club, Waimea Clubhouse, KIFB and the Children’s Discovery Museum, is in its eighth year of preparing nutritious snacks in an after-school setting.
“The KIFB was created by local residents and has always been there for the people of Kaua‘i, especially when people needed it most,” Lord said. “It served so many struggling families, especially in the years following Hurricane Iniki, when it was created in 1995 after the Food Bank of Hawai‘i pulled out of Kaua‘i. It was an authentic grassroots effort and it still operates as such, today.”
Kukui Grove Center has supported the KIFB since its inception and frequently serves as a drop-off site during its food drives.
Visit www.kukuigrovecenter.com for more information on Kukui Grove and www.kauaifoodbank.org for more information on KIFB.
