NAWILIWILI — On the one hand, Jeanette F. Nadeau doesn’t like to be referred to as the “mother of the Kauai Food Bank,” as Kauai Food Bank Executive Director Judith “Judy” Lenthall calls her. On the other hand, one of
NAWILIWILI — On the one hand, Jeanette F. Nadeau doesn’t like to be referred to as the “mother of the Kauai Food Bank,” as Kauai Food Bank Executive Director Judith “Judy” Lenthall calls her. On the other hand, one of the purposes of Nadeau’s recent visit to Kaua‘i is to “see how my food bank is doing,” she said.
It is undeniable, though, that Nadeau played a pivotal role in establishment of the Kauai Food Bank in the months after Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992.
Nadeau, now executive director of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County in California, recalled the days after ‘Iniki, delivering food by the containers to people from Kekaha to Hanalei, having concerns about food safety and sanitation issues, recalls “there were a lot of potlucks. It was great because there was a lot of sharing,” she said.
“There still is. People kind of opened their doors to us,” she recalled. Hurricane ‘Iniki struck two weeks after Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, and much of the U.S. emergency response was directed to Florida, Nadeau said.
June Tanouye, then with the Big Island food bank, was working with John White of the Hawaii Foodbank on O‘ahu, and attended a western regional food bank meeting, saying Kaua‘i residents needed help.
Many people responded, including Nadeau, who recalled the first home of what would eventually be the Kauai Food Bank was a building at Kahili Adventist School and Kahili Mountain Park.
Some time was spent coordinating with Hawaii Foodbank officials to make sure the items being shipped to Kaua‘i were items needed and wanted here, she said.
Soon, the post-hurricane, food-relief effort outgrew the Kahili site, and moved to another temporary site, at the Kapa‘a armory of the Hawaii Army National Guard. There was no refrigeration there. Before the current home in Nawiliwili, the Kauai Food Bank was in a Lihu‘e warehouse along Kuhio Highway where Bicycle John is now located, Lenthall said.
In December 1992, it was determined that a food bank was needed on Kaua‘i. That was when the Kauai Food Bank was born. People saw a need, a need that still exists, Nadeau said.
Nadeau helped compile a list of agencies, worked on getting a site, and helped hire an executive director, she said.
Board members have committed to the organization for the long term, “and that has made a big difference,” Nadeau said.
So the stage has been set for another annual spring healthy food and fund drive, which begins tomorrow, Thursday, March 3, and runs through Saturday, April 16. The goals again are to collect 20,000 pounds of food and $20,000. Grocery bags for food donations, and postage-prepaid, cash and check-donation envelopes, are included in the Island Shopper today, Wednesday, March 2, and will be included in every issue of The Garden Island tomorrow, Thursday, March 3.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
