LIHU‘E — Despite the precautionary safety measures generated by the recent uptick in new cases of COVID-19, the Lili‘uokalani Trust coordinated the delivery of 400 U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers to Families food boxes to families from the Westside to the North Shore Tuesday afternoon.
“Punana Leo was going to cancel their order because they are closed due to COVID-19,” said Shereen Ho‘opi‘i of the Lili‘uokalani Trust. “The volunteers that normally come to pick up the boxes were afraid of spreading the virus. But our staff is going to deliver the boxes to the school, where their parents can come to pick up.”
The staff also delivered food boxes to the Lili‘uokalani single families who were afraid of being subjected to the virus.
Each food box contained selections of produce, dairy and protein in sufficient quantities to prepare meals for families. These included salmon burgers, bologna, chicken, milk, butter, cheese, a fresh head of cabbage and bags of potatoes and onions.
Delivery to families was handled through pickup at the Lili‘uokalani Trust facility in Lihu‘e, the Boys &Girls Club of Hawai‘i’s sites on West Kaua‘i, and the B&G Lihu‘e and Kapa‘a clubhouses. Deliveries to the county’s Agency on Elderly Affairs allowed food to be delivered to approximately 100 families, and the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Football Association arranged for pickup from its umbrella of five
associations from Kapa‘a to Kekaha.
“The Boys &Girls Club Lihu‘e Clubhouse was closed Monday and Tuesday,” Ho‘opi‘i said. “But they arranged to have the families swing by the site to pick up the food boxes.”
Teddy Arroyo, president of the KPWFL, had association representatives and members swinging by to pick up their share of food boxes from a Lihu‘e location.
“I have the boys out delivering right now,” Arroyo said. “When they come back, they’ve got to load up the share for the Kekaha Pop Warner Association, who said they weren’t going to come to Lihu‘e. The boys are working hard today.”
Ho‘opi‘i said another, smaller delivery of 250 boxes is scheduled to come in May 18.
“We won’t know until after May 15 if we’re going to get more food boxes,” Ho‘opi‘i said.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or
dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
This is ridiculous and dangerous. The Farm to Family boxes are perishable. They need monitoring and to be kept under refrigeration. We are agents for the program and the boxes are only brought out in a two hour window as they are being passed out. The program is a great program and we pass out thousands of pounds of the food each year. Come back to earth people. Get back among the living and participate in the community. It is hard to believe you would let your neighbors starve because you think there may be a COVID germ hiding someplace.