Right on the heels of a successful holiday food and fund drive, Kaua’i Food Bank personnel have plunged headlong into their next fund-raising assignment. The fourth annual “Souper Bowl Sunday” fund-raiser was held Sunday, Jan. 26, at Clayworks at Kilohana.
Right on the heels of a successful holiday food and fund drive, Kaua’i Food Bank personnel have plunged headlong into their next fund-raising assignment.
The fourth annual “Souper Bowl Sunday” fund-raiser was held Sunday, Jan. 26, at Clayworks at Kilohana.
The purchase of a $15 ticket for this fund-raiser got the donor a handmade bowl from Clayworks At Kilohana, filled with homemade hot soup from Gaylord’s Restaurant, also in Puhi’s Kilohana, the former Wilcox plantation-manager’s estate.
Nearly $600 was raised during that event.
Last Friday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, was a mahalo party for grocery-store owners who donate or sell food cheaply to the food bank, and for volunteers and representatives of agencies that distribute food to the island’s hungry.
The Garden Island newspaper was awarded The Golden Trumpet Award for publicizing events and works of the food bank.
That event, at the Lihu’e Neighborhood Center, served as the kickoff for the Kauai Food Bank’s Ninth Annual Healthy Spring Food and Fund Drive, running from Wednesday, March 5 through Wednesday, April 30.
The goal again is to raise $20,000, and get 20,000 pounds of food donated. For every dollar donated to the food bank, the agency is able to purchase $16 worth of food.
Once again, The Garden Island newspaper will insert in its issues of Wednesday, March 5 (regular edition and Island Shopper), paper bags for those wishing to donate food, with attached envelopes for those who wish to donate money.
Some 20 percent of Kaua’i’s population, or over 11,000 people, are food-insecure, or don’t know where their next healthy meals will come from, according to a 2001 hunger survey.
Each month, the Kaua’i Food Bank provides food for 7,000 people, half of them children and a fourth of them senior citizens.
The eight most-wanted items are rice, tuna, pasta, canned nutritional-supplement drinks for children and seniors, canned vegetables, fruits, peanut butter and soups. During the food-drive dates, firefighters at fire stations from Princeville to Waimea will accept donated food for the cause.
The food bank warehouse and offices in Nawiliwili are also a drop-off point for food and cash.
Despite information that may have appeared to the contrary in a recent article on the food bank, fund- and food-raising are never-ending works of food bank personnel, said Judy Lenthall, food bank executive director.
In addition to the Sunday event and the spring food and fund drive, food-bank representatives have applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that if won will help feed low-income seniors.
The federal agency will make its award determination this month, she said.
For more information, please call 246-3809, fax 246-4737, or see the Web site, www.kauaifoodbank.org.
