First Hawaiian Bank donates $12,000

LIHUE — The Kauai Independent Food Bank was presented a $12,000 grant Monday from the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation.

“This is money that will fund the Keiki Cafe program,” said Kelvin Moniz, KIFB executive director. “The Keiki Cafe is one of our keiki feeding programs, and before the school started, the KIFB received requests from two additional schools wanting to become part of the program.”

Koloa Elementary School, currently on the Keiki Cafe program, wants to add a second program for its students, Moniz said. The other school wanting to participate in the Keiki Cafe is Alaka‘i o Kaua‘i, a charter school at the Kahili Mountain Park.

“Our goal is to provide nutritious and healthy after school snacks,” Moniz said. “The Keiki Cafe and the Backpack program are just two of the programs we have that are focused on getting healthy food to our keiki.”

He said First Hawaiian Bank is no stranger to supporting the food bank’s programs of feeding keiki, kupuna and emergency food.

“Earlier in the summer, we had First Hawaiian Bank employees coming to our Nawiliwili warehouse where they helped pack hundreds of bags of rice as well as helped in packing some of the Backpack program packages,” Moniz said. “That effort really helps us and we appreciate it.”