LIHU‘E — Tisha Ruiz of the Hawai‘i Foodbank, Kaua‘i Branch said the monetary contribution from the Hawai‘iUSA Federal Credit Union represents 3,750 meals.
The Hawai‘iUSA FCU presented the food bank with a $1,500 monetary contribution, and more than 285 pounds of nonperishable food on Thursday. The contribution represented proceeds of a month-long food drive hosted by the Hawai‘iUSA FCU and sparked by the credit union’s Taylor Shigemoto, Morgan Lopez, Karen Shigemoto, and the credit union team.
The Hawai‘iUSA FCU contribution other donations, including the $25,000 Summer Meals grant from the Safeway Foundation, and the contribution of 11,565 pounds of nonperishable food generated from Safeway’s Annual Nourishing Neighbors summer campaign that poured into the Puhi warehouse complex, Wednesday.
“The Hawai‘i Foodbank, Kaua‘i Branch would like to thank all of the hard-working managers and team members for their generous efforts,” said Hawai‘i Foodbank, Kaua‘i Branch Manager Wes Perreira.
The contributions are a big boost to the Kaua‘i Branch’s operations when its annual fundraising Food Drive Day was cut down by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier in August.
Ruiz said the Safeway Foundation grant is for the keiki.
“The Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i received a generous $25,000 grant from the Safeway Foundation so that we may continue to fund the School Pantry Programs,” Perreira said. “Our Kaua‘i Branch currently has eight school pantries across the island that were created to help reduce hunger in school-aged children and promote better learning. The funding from Safeway Foundation will help tremendously in our efforts to help our keiki with childhood hunger. Not only will they have access to snacks during the school day, they will have an opportunity to take some food home to share with their families.”
The Summer Meals Grant is part of the Safeway Nourishing Neighbors Community.
“We are incredibly grateful to be part of Safeway’s Nourishing Neighbors campaign that, this summer, was able to collect a total of 11,565 pounds of nonperishable food,” Perreira said. “This was made possible through the many generous donors from the community as well as the many visitors to Kaua‘i.”
Safeway Stores is a corporate partner of the Hawai‘i Foodbank, Kaua‘i Branch.
“Many wearing the Safeway uniform have served our island throughout the pandemic, and have gone the extra mile in promoting this Nourishing Neighbors campaign,” Perreira said. “Many thanks go to store managers Lesah Merritt and Lucienne Muse and their teams. Lesah and her staff at the Lihu‘e store finished second in the NorCal division of their region, and was No. 1 in the state.”
