LIHUE — Nearly 13,000 people — including about 5,200 keiki and kupuna — on Kauai get food regularly through the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai Branch, said director Wes Perreira.
The Hawaii Foodbank will join a statewide effort to raise hunger awareness and collect food and funds from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at seven sites.
Volunteers, staff, and board members will be anchoring collections at the Princeville Center, Safeway stores in the Kauai Village and Hokulei Village, Walmart, and the Big Save stores in Koloa, Eleele, and Waimea. The collection sites will be clearly visible with specially-designed shirts, fishnets, and posters.
Perreira said the Kauai branch is still helping North Shore residents affected by last year’s flooding.
“This may be a surprise to some of you, but the relief and recovery efforts still continue through today,” Perreira said in an advisory board update.
They make weekly deliveries to the Wainiha-Haena areas using their mobile food pantry trailer. St. Williams Church, Church of the Pacific, and Kauai North Shore Pantry all share in supplying food, supplies, and labor needed to service the 80-plus families still in need.
So far, the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai Branch has supplied the flooding-affected families with 327,292 pounds of emergency and recovery supplies.
“We are committed to continuing this effort until the emergency proclamation is lifted, the highway reopened, and a sense of normalcy returns to these residents,” Perreira said.
The U.S. government partial shutdown in December added an additional 107 families that leaned on the food bank for help to get through the no-work period that ended in February.
The total distribution for the government shutdown is at 11,023 pounds, Perreira said.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
