WAIMEA — Where are they going to get food?
That question posed by students in the Genius Hour afterschool club at Waimea Canyon Middle School triggered several community groups and businesses to partner and host a food distribution Saturday at the school.
“This is inspired by the students,” said Stephanie Iona of Kekaha Agriculture. “The students know of several families that are homeless, and when school is on spring break, students don’t get any food because they’re on free and reduced lunch programs. Tisha Remigio of the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i coordinated this drive.”
The partnership included the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i, Kekaha Agriculture, Corteva Agriscience, E Ola Mau, Westside Christian Center, Assembly of God, Hawai‘i Foodservice Alliance, Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation Kaua‘i Region – Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital, Sea Scouts, Waimea High School students, stae Sen. Ron Kouchi, Mike Contrades representing U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, Mayor Derek Kawakami and others.
“We had a lot of donations,” said Wes Perreira, the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i executive director. The foodbank’s board of directors, including new President Sonia Topenio, helped distribute food to 300 families in the sold-out function. “We paid for about half of this. The other half was donated by the partners.”
Each family received white bread, eggs, ramen, milk, rice, potatoes, apples, a community-sourced agriculture box through Malama Kaua‘i, chicken, hamburger, a box of crayons, and food bags packed by the Genius Hour club members.
Iona noted that, in previous distributions, the amount provided Saturday should last a family about a week.
“We did a food drive from February through March where we collected more than 1,500 pieces of food,” said Adrian Smith of the Genius Hour club, who used his knowledge of 3D printing to create bowls that were used to help fundraise for the project.
“They collected a lot,” said Laurie Yoshida of Corteva Agriscience. “A lot of the food went to the Westside Christian Center for their distributions. The remainder was packed and will go out with the other food today.”
Pastor Darryl Kua of the Westside Christian Center was pleased with the contribution, noting that he checked with several North Shore pantries, who said the demand for food is increasing because of inflated prices that extend beyond gas.
“I’m just happy we can do this today,” Kua said.
The Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i had earlier completed their project of delivering cold-storage units to pantry locations outside of Lihu‘e, including ‘Ele‘ele Baptist Church, Holy Cross Church in Kalaheo, and St. Raphael Church in Koloa, for improving cold-storage capacity for emergency food access through a grant from the county through the Office of Economic Development.
“The county’s Office of Economic Development’s support has been instrumental in increasing our partner agencies’ cold-storage capacity through the purchase of these commercial-grade freezers and refrigerators,” said Perreira.
“They will be able to store and distribute more perishable products such as dairy, fresh produce and meats. These products are key to providing our clients with nutritious foods for a healthier diet,” he said.
”We are extremely grateful for Nikki Kunioka-Volz and OED Director Nalani Brun for their vital support of this project. We especially loved seeing when the cold-storage units were delivered to ‘Ele‘ele Baptist Church, Holy Cross Church, St. Raphael Church and the Kapa‘a Missionary Church. The agency leadership and their volunteers could not stop thanking everyone involved for making this happen.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
