LIHU‘E — Britton Ody of Atlanta, Georgia had to look up the event on the Internet, Friday.
“It’s National Donut Day,” Ody said while waiting in line to order with his family. “I had to look it up on the Internet to find out where we could get donuts here.”
The Ody family was just one of a steady stream of customers stopping by Daylight Donuts to get their order of donuts to celebrate National Donut Day.
“Capt. Shawn Keoho already left,” said Janice Bond of the Salvation Army Advisory Board who was manning the Red Kettle outside the store that bristled with the excitement of bakers cranking out donuts so the sales crew could fill orders. “There’s two lines. One line is for people waiting to order, and the other line is for those who called in their orders ahead of time. Capt. Keoho went off to deliver donuts to the police and fire departments.”
By 7 a.m., the line of donut aficionados already reached the shop’s entrance, and a few minutes later, was out into the parking lot and stretching toward Style Surf that opened just a few weeks ago.
National Donut Day benefits The Salvation Army and marks 104 years since the Salvation Army Donut Lassies started the tradition of cooking donuts for soldiers on the front lines during World War I.
Similar events were taking place throughout Hawai‘i, and on Kaua‘i, Daylight Donuts was offering a free donut while supplies lasted.
National Donut Day was started as a way to raise funds and bring awareness to the Salvation Army’s social service programs. It is traditionally held the first Friday in June to celebrate Donut Lassies who, in addition to providing writing materials, stamps, clothes-mending, and home-cooked meals, fried donuts using the soldiers’ helmets — seven donuts at a time.
The Salvation Army, both the Lihu‘e and Hanapepe Corps., have been maintaining meals to go and emergency food package pick ups on a regular basis during the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both corps also maintain regular hours at the thrift stores located at each site.
