LIHU‘E — Amalya Sales had the day off from Sone’s but was volunteering with her family at the United Public Workers Labor Day food distribution Saturday at the UPW building on Rice Street.
“There’s no basketball right now,” said coach Clarence Sales, Amalya’s dad. “So I’m just trying to keep the traffic moving.
Virgie Sagisi also had her daughter in tow, helping at the food event that was reminiscent of Labor Days past when unions hosted family picnics and distributed loads of celebratory food like hams and turkeys.
“We came to support him — Mike Dandurand, a candidate for the Kaua‘i County Council,” Sagisi said, alluding to the days when political hopefuls took the opportunity to grab attention by helping distribute food at the gatherings.
Dr. Addison Bulosan, another candidate for the Kaua‘i County Council, joined Dandurand in helping the food distribution effort on behalf of the Rice Street county and state workers union.
Dandurand and Bulosan both talked about attending the caravan, car show and drive-in movie that will take place at Waioli Park adjacent to the Waioli Church in Hanalei today.
“I was invited,” Dandurand said. “I might bring my sound system and play some music since they are saying this is to raise awareness that Hanalei businesses need support.”
A steady stream of cars flowed through the two drive-thru lanes set up fronting the UPW offices, each family getting fresh bananas, milk, eggs, a bag of assorted snack items, a log of Goteborg sausage, and sausage from the Kaua‘i Meat Company through the help of the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i Branch.
Wes Perreira, Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i Branch manager, said this was the first time they were able to provide Goteborg as part of the food distribution.
“This is good stuff,” he said. “My kids could have this for breakfast every day. We’re going to try and get into other distributions around the island.”
“We had to start at eight,” said UPW Division Head Misty Silva. “Cars were already piling up. We couldn’t wait for 9 o’clock.”
Based on the demand and response from families elated with their food packages, Silva said UPW will host food distributions every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon, or whenever food runs out, until further notice.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
