NAWILIWILI — An unavoidable gap in availability of federal funds for a program that provides fresh produce for lower-income senior citizens on Kaua‘i means many Kaua‘i seniors will go without fresh fruits and vegetables for the next few months, a
NAWILIWILI — An unavoidable gap in availability of federal funds for a program that provides fresh produce for lower-income senior citizens on Kaua‘i means many Kaua‘i seniors will go without fresh fruits and vegetables for the next few months, a Kauai Food Bank official said.
U.S. Department of Agriculture funds ran out, Kauai Food Bank officials must reapply for the program in January, and won’t be able to resume the program until April, said Judith “Judy” Lenthall, food bank executive director.
What that means for the seniors, most of whom are on fixed incomes, are smart shoppers, and don’t routinely buy foods that may end up spoiling if they can’t eat them in a timely manner, is that they will go the winter largely without fresh fruits and vegetables in their diets, Lenthall said.
“The seniors count on it weekly,” as local farmers grow the Grade A produce and sell it to food bank officials, volunteers sort and bag it, and food-bank workers deliver it to the nine neighborhood centers from Kekaha to Kilauea that are home to Kauai Senior Centers Inc. operations, where the seniors pick it up at no cost to them, Lenthall explained.
The food bank’s Kauai Fresh produce program continues, but because of how the affected USDA program works, food-bank officials must re-apply for funds each year, so there is no way to stretch the funds to make the gap go away, she said.
On the better-news front, Island Air leaders delivered 1,353 pounds of food to the Kauai Food Bank warehouse here this week, results of a food drive held at Lihu‘e Airport that offered discounted airfares when passengers brought non-perishable foods for the drive. Island Air employees also donated food to the drive.
Food-bank officials are in the middle of the annual holiday food and fund drive, with goals to raise $20,000 and collect 20,000 pounds of food before Christmas. Through Wednesday, $11,924 and 12,856 pounds of food had been donated, including over 5,000 pounds from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands near Kekaha, said Kelvin A. Moniz, Kauai Food Bank operations manager. Members of the Kapaa Rotary Club chipped in $1,000 to the total.
Officers of the Kauai Fil-Am (Filipino American) Jaycees dropped off 390 pounds of food, which people donated at the Kukui Grove Center haunted house over Halloween weekend.
Recently, food bank officials went shopping for Thanksgiving turkeys for hungry Kauaians, purchasing 600 turkeys at Cost-U-Less, the store whose managers gave food-bank officials the best price, Lenthall said.
Some $8,200 was spent for holiday fowl, including several chickens because the store didn’t have enough turkeys, she said.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
