NAWILIWILI — “And 397 pounds of food,” said Kelvin Moniz, executive director of the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank, after Kimo St. John of the Kapaia Foundation announced they raised $1,000 during their recent drive-thru food drive at the site of the Kapaia Swinging Bridge.
St. John dropped by the KIFB facility Tuesday morning with the proceeds of the food drive he spearheaded.
“I got a lot of help from my daughter, who is home doing distance learning,” St. John said. “She attends the Paul Mitchell beauty school, but everything is done through distance learning so she’s home. She helped a lot: setting up the tent, collecting and more.”
Moniz added that an individual gave St. John a check for $100, bringing the total contribution to $1,100 in cash and 397 pounds of food.
“The Kapaia Foundation would like to thank all the folks who donated food or funds during the Koinobori and October food drives,” St. John said. “We appreciate you helping feeding our community. We also would like to thank all the people who volunteered their time during the food drives.”
Moniz said the food and money will go right back into the community.
“Right now, with all the unemployment, the uncertainties, food is a never-ending story,” Moniz said. “The KIFB staff (and volunteers) have been working very hard, and we were lucky enough to be able and give them a break over the weekend.”
Thursday, the KIFB crew made a North Shore delivery run to accommodate nearly 400 packages of food for furloughed employees from the various hotels and resorts, including The Island, Sky, Ocean, a Castle Resorts &Hotels boutique hotel that partnered with KIFB to provide emergency food assistance to about 60 employees of both the ISO hotel and the attached Waipouli Bull Shed restaurant who have been furloughed or experienced a reduction in hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic, states a press release.
“We are grateful to be able to give what we can to assist our workers during these unprecedented times,” said Ala Perreira, ISO general manager. “We deeply miss our valued guests and employees, and are awaiting the day when we may all meet again safely.” In addition to the food packages, the ISO employees also received $25 Times Supermarket gift cards from the management team during a luncheon for those in attendance.
Other stops included The Cliffs, with 30 packages, the Hanalei Bay Resort with 49 packages, Bali Hai with 58 packages, Ka‘eo Kai with 60 packages, and ending at the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, where volunteers from the Zonta Club of Kaua‘i and the Lions club helped distribute 200 packages of food for the resort’s employees.
The food packages included a variety of items, including eggs, bread, Wailua hamburger, tuna, chicken breast, pasta, cereal, cookies and cases of saimin.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
