Mother continues son’s mission of delivering meals

KAPA‘A — Sova Lucidarme-Musika understood food’s role in fostering community.

He knew sharing a meal — whether it be home-cooked, haute cuisine or fast-food pizza — can be an important act of care between friends, family and strangers alike.

This reporter never met Sova, who died of heart disease on May 7, two weeks after his 26th birthday.

But Sova’s ethos continues through his mother, Nikki Lucidarme, who is now feeding the Eastside in his memory.

“He always told me, ‘Food makes everyone happy. It brings everybody together,’” Lucidarme said.

She spoke from Fujii Beach in Kapa‘a, one of several beaches visited by Sova, who would distribute food to passersby.

Sova, a professional roofer, would also purchase groceries for others on payday.

“There was this one specific girl, who was homeless with a little 2-year-old,” Nikki said. “He’d go over there and (bring) simple things: bread, meat, cheese, and a little snack for the boy.”

Sova’s life included struggles with substance-use disorder. He was temporarily houseless as a result.

These experiences shaped Sova’s worldview, which he shared with Nikki when delivering food to Kaua‘i beach parks.

Nikki believes the distributions brought her closer to her son and the greater island community.

“I’m looking at everybody out here differently, because he told me, ‘Don’t judge anybody. We all make mistakes, or we all make bad choices,’” she said.

“My own son told me, ‘Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you,’” Nikki continued. “That stuck with me … He’s like, ‘Everybody is somebody’s son, Mom. Everybody is somebody’s daughter, and everybody needs to eat.’”

After Sova “opened (her) eyes,” Nikki was furloughed from her job as a resort bartender due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She volunteered at an Anahola food pantry, driving hot lunches to houseless groups across the island, before returning to work one year later.

Then Sova died in his sleep, leaving behind two young children.

Friends and family filled Nikki’s home with food, as friends and family do when a loved one dies.

“I said ‘OK, what am I going to do now? I don’t want it to stop,’” Nikki said. “I want to use my heartache and my hurt and channel it out to do something good for people.”

Nikki and others began to distribute food on beaches throughout the Eastside.

Some who accepted meals knew Sova, and shared hugs with Nikki.

Others, including a young man living near Lihu‘e, wanted to help Nikki in turn.

“He said, ‘You’re always so good to us,’” she recalled. “He said, ‘I can’t do much because I’m not working, but I’ll mow your lawn. I’ll come wash your car.’”

Nikki’s meal deliveries will become less frequent when she returns to work.

But she won’t stop distributing meals and clothes.

“I’m in a dark moment right now,” Nikki said. “But I want to give light to other people in their dark moments and if I can help one person eat, that makes me happy.”

‘Mother-son team steals show’

Sova’s lifelong love of cooking came early, according to Nikki, a longtime culinary professional.

Like many young chefs, Sova followed his mother throughout their kitchen, offering to stir and chop ingredients.

He graduated to cooking spaghetti and chili before moving on to more-advanced recipes.

The Garden Island recorded Nikki and Sova’s shared culinary prowess nearly 16 years ago, in its coverage of the 2006 Kaua‘i Coconut Festival.

Nikki won the event’s grand prize for her imu-style kalua turkey nachos with cucumber-coconut salsa, sweet caramelized onions, smoked gouda and Kaua‘i goat cheese.

She also took second place in the dessert category, thanks to a pineapple-coconut cheesecake with a macaroon crust and mango coulis.

But Sova, an Island School fifth-grader at the time, would not be outdone by his mother.

He won the keiki division, with “Mr. Sova’s Almost Famous ‘Hopefully Award-Winning’ Coconut-Banana Cream Trifle.”

“Putting it together was my favorite part,” Sova told The Garden Island at the time.

“It’s like a cake but in a cup. And I won first place.”

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Scott Yunker, reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or syunker@thegardenisland.com.