LIHUE — The group of representatives from Corteva Agriscience, including Yael Claussen, Kristen Ma and Archie Acoba were silent on Wednesday morning when they rolled into the Kauai Independent Food Bank loading area.
The Corteva team, delivering the results of their in-house annual food drive shared equally between the Kauai Independent Food Bank and Hawaii Foodbank Kauai, was met by a queue of about 50 families waiting on the start of the twice-monthly emergency food distribution in Nawiliwili.
“The impact of your contribution makes a big difference, especially for these people who need help getting food on their tables,” said Kelvin Moniz, the KIFB executive director.
“Additionally, KIFB will be hosting a drive-thru food distribution for 300 families on Nov. 20, starting at 1 p.m. at the Kauai Veterans Center. This food drive won’t include any turkeys, but will include fresh vegetables and produce, and shelf staples.”
The Corteva team was in charge of dropping off more than 1,800 pounds of food, and nearly $800 in cash and checks that was split between the two food banks on Kauai. The totals represent the proceeds of an internal food drive that lasted about a month.
“The Corteva employees love to give to these food drives,” said Claussen. “The original delivery was put off by about two weeks, and that delay helped because the employees were getting more excited as the drive neared its end.”
Moniz said KIFB hosts about 50 families on each of its emergency food distributions that takes place twice, monthly.
Tisha Remigio of Hawaii Foodbank Kauai, said the Corteva delivery amounts to approximately 1,500 meals.
The Hawaii Foodbank Kauai, in response to the community’s requests, also hosts weekly food distributions on Thursday afternoons starting at 4 p.m. at its Puhi Industrial Park offices and warehouses. Since starting a weekly program about a month ago, Remigio indicated there are about 80 families a week that take advantage of the afternoon hour distributions of nutritious food.
Coming off a successful Kauai Malama Military food drive where more than 200 families received food packages, the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai is partnering with the Hawai‘i Lodging and Tourism Association, Kauai chapter to offer a food distribution for 300 families on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Kauai Philippine Cultural Center.
Service is on a first-come, first-served basis in a drive-thru format.
Each of the food banks welcome food drives organized by individuals, families and organizations. For more information, interested contributors can call the respective food banks.
