NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i Food Bank director Judy Lenthall had a scare yesterday as an American Medical Response ambulance pulled up at the entrance to the Nawiliwili facility. “Someone said you had an ambulance full of food,” Lenthall told the gathering
NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i Food Bank director Judy Lenthall had a scare yesterday as an American Medical Response ambulance pulled up at the entrance to the Nawiliwili facility.
“Someone said you had an ambulance full of food,” Lenthall told the gathering of paramedics and their families, representing the Kaua‘i Paramedic Association who stopped off to present the food bank with a $1,000 contribution on behalf of its 42 members.
“We were told that you could use the money better than food,” paramedic Tiffany Sentani said.
The contribution comes on the heels of the Kaua‘i Food Bank welcoming a new year. The Kaua‘i Food Bank recently concluded its annual holiday food and fund drive, extended to Dec. 31 from its originally scheduled Dec. 15 cutoff date.
When it appeared that the drive was close to meeting its goal, the extension was put into effect, hopefully to make the goal of 40,000 pounds of food and $40,000 in contributions.
Lenthall said that with the final figures in, the drive fell short of its food collection, taking in 36,146 pounds of food. But on the financial contributions, the final tally came in at $42,073 including a late contribution made by Tom Bartlett on behalf of Kaua‘i Hoe Wa‘a when Bartlett assembled an informal collection of one-man paddling enthusiasts for a Fun Day paddle from Po‘ipu two weeks ago.
“We were almost in an emergency situation,” Lenthall told the paramedics. “Before the start of the holiday food and fund drive, the shelves were literally empty of food. But thanks to the community, we now have food to keep us going for a while.”
Lenthall said the Kaua‘i Food Bank fiscal calendar closes with the calendar year and the Kaua‘i Paramedic Association contribution is a great way to open the new fiscal year for the Kaua‘i Food Bank.
Following the traditional mahalo party hosted by the Kaua‘i Food Bank for all the support shown by the community, Lenthall is already looking ahead to 2009 which she said will be known as “The Year of the Food Stamp.”
The economic downturn toward the end of the year resulted in an increase of about 25 percent in demand for food, Lenthall said, noting that she will be attending a meeting on O‘ahu next week where the impact of the downturn is one of the items up for discussion.
But she was more excited about the progress made by the food bank’s newest employee — Wendi Rusaw.
Rusaw has been doing the food stamp outreach program since Aug. 1, and with the closing of the fiscal year, Lenthall said Rusaw surpassed the goal of securing $100,000 in food stamp funds.
“She pulled in more than $110,000 resulting in almost a half a million dollars in community economic impact,” Lenthall said, noting that this was done within a five month period when everyone else was struggling with the economic downturn.
One of the hardest obstacles facing Rusaw is the stigma associated with food stamps and the kupuna, Lenthall said. To overcome this, the program has been re-labeled Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with Rusaw distributing introductory packs of Ginger Snap cookies.
This usually opens the door for the kupuna to call her, and on a one-to-one basis, work out the details so Kaua‘i’s elderly can get food stamp assistance.
Lenthall said the introductory package was backed by the Kaua‘i County Council, and she is currently seeking an appointment to do another presentation.
Additionally, she said State Sen. Gary Hooser, Democrat representing Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, has been working with the Kaua‘i Food Bank and should be introducing legislation in the next session that should help the SNAP program.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
