Letters for Nov. 21, 2015

Letters for Nov. 21, 2015

Time of year to be thankful

The St. Catherine food pantry in Kapaa is thankful for all the support we receive. This pantry is five and a half years old and distributes food to an average 375 people once a week at the beaches in Kapaa or at the church on Wednesday. All the clients are thankful for all the support.

This ministry could not exist without the help of so many. We get 90 percent of our food from the Hawaii Food Bank in Puhi. They sell us an average 3,000 pounds of food a week at 19 cents a pound and they give us bread, milk and some dairy products for free. Cost-U-Less in Kapaa also gives to us free items or sells to us at a discount. Safeway is another socially minded company and gives pantry’s free day old bread and or provides cereal and rice at a discount so we can buy it for children. Last, but not least, the St. Catherine school children collect several hundred pounds of food a month for the pantry.

The Kauai Humane Society is a blessing. They provide free pet food once a month (through Gomez Alley) to help keep several hundred pets in their homes. Their mobile spay and neuter van has visited our distribution site three times and performed the sterilization procedure on over three dozen pets. Their Blooming Tails thrift shop provides blankets and jackets which we take to the beaches and up to 20 bags of clothes a week for distribution with our food program.

We are also thankful for the 40 volunteers that put in 80-90 hours a week to help get the food, set up, or help with the distribution at the beaches or from our church. June Munoz of Ho’ Ola Lahui Hawaii has attended our distribution or accompanied us to the beaches in Kapaa for years to help clients improve their lives by assisting with medical or dental services.

This ministry could not succeed without financial support which we received from United Way, Friends of Hawaii, Sony, Atherton Foundation and the parishioners of St. Catherine’s Catholic Church.

A big Mahalo for supporting all the food pantries on our island.

Mark Whitson, manager St. Catherine’s Food Pantry

Kapaa

Too much growth not good for Kauai

Former Kauai resident John Marconato’s Nov. 19 letter to the editor tells us that he is seeing more disdain for tourists than is warranted and that tourists are not the problem. He says it amounts to Kauai being too “greedy” to cap visitor numbers. Mr. Marconato states “Corporations, developers and government are to blame for most of the problems by allowing more growth in hotels and various other accommodations.”

That’s the crux of the matter but the HTA and the Kauai Board of Tourism are not paying attention. More growth is already approved. Most of Mr. Marconato’s accommodation taxes go to promote Hawaii and bring in more tourists. His paid Transient Accommodation Taxes do nothing to reduce our traffic gridlock, or to reduce beach, parks and trails overcrowding. His GET taxes paid on purchases do not make a dent in our infrastructure needs, which are at the point of deficiency. We have an unsustainable situation with no end in sight under the current status quo.

Paulo Tambolo

Wailua Homesteads