LIHUE — Xuhui Chen could not contain himself Wednesday morning. Standing in a line, waiting to be seated outside the St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church, the third-grader at the Elsie Wilcox Elementary School exclaimed, “I know him. He
LIHUE — Xuhui Chen could not contain himself Wednesday morning.
Standing in a line, waiting to be seated outside the St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church, the third-grader at the Elsie Wilcox Elementary School exclaimed, “I know him. He lives on our street.”
The realization of who is needy and needs help in getting food struck home when one of the recipients in the line recognized her granddaughter.
“These are people who need help in getting food,” said Pat Hillegonds, director of the Loaves and Fishes food pantry program at St. Michael’s church. “We help them and pray they can get back on their feet to enjoy a healthy life, again.”
The students clutched their bags of sweet potato greens and found strength in each other while Hillegonds introduced them to the gathering outside the church’s social hall.
“Most of the people come from the Lihue to Hanamaulu area,” Hillegonds said. “But we do get people from as far away as Kekaha and Wailua.”
Hillegonds said the Loaves and Fishes program supplies food for about 70 households each Wednesday morning, amounting to about 350 people.
Teacher Ann Keeler’s third-grade class is growing sweet potatoes in its school garden, and after learning from Natalie Hiwahiwa, the school’s garden coordinator, that you can eat the greens, decided they would partner with Joanie Funamura’s kindergarten class to present some to the food pantry program.
“They taste like asparagus,” Keeler said. “You can either steam, or stir fry them. The third grade class along with our kindergarten buddies showed laulima and harvested and bagged the greens.”
Keeler said at Wilcox School, teachers incorporate Hawaiian values into the character education program and thought this was a way of putting some of those values into action by helping the community.
“This is so beautiful,” said Laurie Lewis of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who was waiting her turn in line and watching the students deposit their bags into a container for distribution. “To share with other people is absolutely beautiful.”
Keeler said the feeling of love was everywhere.
“We grew these in our garden and are going to share it with people who need help,” said Gabrielle Blakley who partnered with Tiare Kaui of the kindergarten class. “It’s for our neighbors, the St. Michael’s church.”
Suze Cohen, another recipient of food, could hardly contain herself from reaching out to hug the children.
“This is wonderful,” Cohen said. “To teach them gardening at such a young age, and not only gardening, but to share with others. Thank you, teachers.”
Keeler said this was a memorable event for her.
“Wow!” she said. “My heart was overflowing. It was such an incredible experience for all of us.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
