KAPAA — Eliza Vicoy makes a living cooking up ono cuisine. Now she wants to extend her talent outside the restaurant scene. The 29-year-old sous chef is launching a campaign to feed the island’s most vulnerable people. Vicoy is raising
KAPAA — Eliza Vicoy makes a living cooking up ono cuisine. Now she wants to extend her talent outside the restaurant scene.
The 29-year-old sous chef is launching a campaign to feed the island’s most vulnerable people. Vicoy is raising money through her church, Kauai Lighthouse Outreach Center Assembly of God, to buy a food truck from which she plans to serve warm and healthy meals for Kauai’s homeless — for free.
For Vicoy, the planned food truck ministry she hopes to establish is the manifestation of a personal calling.
“I’ve been asking God, ‘What is my calling? What do you want me to do?’ and it’s crazy but I had this vision of starting this food truck and helping out the homeless,” she said.
“All my life I never remember there being homeless people on Kauai and now they’re everywhere. If we start doing something about it, there won’t be any homeless and struggling people out there. Knowing that there won’t be people on Kauai going to bed hungry drives me.”
The goal, Vicoy said, is the suffering of the island’s homeless population and inspire them to redouble their efforts to get back on their feet.
On Kauai, 480 homeless people received services last fiscal year from the state homeless outreach program the Care-A-Van, a mobile outreach program operated by Kauai Economic Opportunity, Inc.
Pastor Sile Asotasi of Kauai Lighthouse Outreach Center said the food truck ministry is part of a larger effort by the church to help decrease homelessness on the island by providing necessities — toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as nutritious meals — to people living on the streets and at beach parks.
“We really want to help out those people,” Asotasi said. “We believe that we need to love those kind of people.”
The church is planning lau lau and plate lunch sales as well as car washes to raise money to buy a food truck. Vicoy has also launched a crowd funding campaign online at gofundme.com/foodtruckministry.
Vicoy, who lives in Kapaa, said she estimates that a food truck equipped with the utilities she needs will cost about $20,000.
“As long as I keep going and don’t stop, I’m going to make it happen,” she said.
Vicoy said she hopes to partner with food banks and other community members interested in helping to feed the homeless.
She said she’s also exploring the idea of using the truck to sell plate lunches to the general public a few days a week so she can funnel the profits toward providing free meals for the homeless.
“For me, I was blessed to be a chef,” Vicoy said. “But just seeing friends and people I know who are out there struggling, I just want to help. To see people go from being happy to being down, whether it’s drugs or losing a job, it’s so hard.
“There are opportunities out there for everyone, but sometimes people just need a boost. I hope this can help give people a boost and help them change their lives. We live on a small island and we need to help each other.”
