PUHI — Talk about disaster response was flavored by recent announcements from within the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i on Wednesday, when the group met at the Kaua‘i Community College Fine Arts Auditorium to hammer out disaster preparedness for food access.
Laurie Yoshida, who joined the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i board in 2019, has been recently appointed as the Kaua‘i Advisory Board Leader.
“This means she not only leads our board, she is the representative to the Hawai‘i Foodbank board on O‘ahu,” said Tisha Remigio, who was recently appointed to fill the assistant director’s slot.
Remigio said Yoshida has consistently demonstrated her dedication to serving the Kaua‘i community.
“Laurie is a true asset to our community,” said Wes Perreira, director of the Kaua‘i branch. “Her hard work and passion for our cause have been invaluable. We have no doubt she will excel in her new role as leader of the Kaua‘i Advisory Board and representative on the Board of Directors.”
Remigio said the disaster preparedness workshop and mapping exercise was a result of the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i being involved in a 2022 event coordinated by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and Hawai‘i Hunger Action Network for 11 organizations to complete disaster plans in which the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i was part of the first cohort.
“It made a big impact on our internal emergency preparedness and future planning,” Remigio said. “As a follow-up to that experience, Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i received a grant from the Stupski Foundation that provided us an opportunity to bring a similar learning, connecting, and capacity-building opportunity to our network.”
Led by Hawai‘i Foodbank Emergency Coordinator Rachel Carrall, the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i Disaster Preparedness Training Series was a four-part series centered around how residents, collectively, can understand the risks and better prepare for future disasters, Remigio said.
“We invited seven of our agencies from across the island to participate in these in-person convenings that were also joined by a variety of local and visiting guest speakers to share their expertise and experience in community organization and disaster preparedness, response and recovery,” Remigio said.
“In addition to learning from our subject matter experts, this experience was an opportunity for our agency partners to connect with one another, and for our Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i team to receive their input and perspective on how we as a whole, can be better prepared for disasters. We have been thrilled with the engagement and momentum built through the course of these meetings, and plan to continue regular meetings that can fold in even more of our partners moving forward.”
