PRINCEVILLE — The North Shore Lions Club had the pleasure of presenting a $10,000 check from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to John Burkhouse, the North Shore pantry head director, on Monday. The check represents a grant derived from
PRINCEVILLE — The North Shore Lions Club had the pleasure of presenting a $10,000 check from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to John Burkhouse, the North Shore pantry head director, on Monday.
The check represents a grant derived from efforts spearheaded by the North Shore Lions to repaint the Kilauea Neighborhood Center, which is located adjacent to the Kilauea Gym, Saturday under the Weinberg Friends program.
Lion Bob Robertson said there were 44 people who turned out for the painting project, including members of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, which is currently spearheading a “Save the Hanalei Pier” project, as well as community volunteers including members of both the Church of the Pacific and St. Williams Church.
Supplies, including the paint, rollers and brushes, were provided through the county.
Under general terms of the Friends program, a service club performs a community service with a required minimum number of volunteers and in return, Weinberg provides a grant to a nonprofit organization of the group’s choosing.
The North Shore Lions selected the Church of the Pacific which will be sharing the grant with St. Williams Church’s food pantry program in Hanalei. The combined efforts of both organizations currently service more than 450 people weekly, Burkhouse said.
He said the grant is welcomed because both food pantry programs work with the larger food banks and a retail outlet, but there are times when there just isn’t any food.
“The Church of the Pacific services about 250 people and the St. Williams program takes care of more than 115 people weekly,” Burkhouse said. “This is a give-and-take figure because there are more people on some weeks.”
The North Shore Lions are no stranger to the needs of hungry on the North Shore, being instrumental in increasing the garden at the Church of the Pacific and being featured in a Lions International video on the club’s efforts in the gardening program.
“We couldn’t believe how little fresh fruit and vegetables were available to help feed people,” Burkhouse said. “Pastor Glenn Frazier and I took classes at the Kaua‘i Community College to learn how to start a garden.”
The garden, now estimated to be about a quarter of an acre, currently puts out between 100 to 150 pounds of fresh produce. The produce is harvested weekly on Wednesdays and distributed through the food pantry program, open from 4:15 p.m. at the Church of the Pacific.
Burkhouse said helping keep the garden at its peak production is the appointment of Gary Hayton as the garden manager.
“Gary is in charge of growing and maintenance in the garden at Po‘oku, and the amount of items coming out of there is just awesome,” Burkhouse said.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
