Hawai‘i Army National Guard volunteers pack bags of groceries in the rain on Saturday, May 18, 2024, for the Malama Military food distribution at the Kaua‘i Community College parking lot.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
The Hawai‘i Army National Guard partnered with the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i and other community helpers on Saturday, May 18, 2024, in hosting the Malama Military food distribution at the Kaua‘i Community College parking lot.
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Kelly Momohara, of Team Rubicon, led a group of volunteers in loading a patron’s care on Saturday, May 18, 2024, during the Malama Military food distribution that was a partnership between the Hawai‘i Army National Guard, the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i and other community groups.
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A National Guardsman waits for volunteers to finish packing a patron’s car with food on Saturday, May 18, 2024, during the Malama Military food distribution at Kaua‘i Community College.
Dennis Fujimoto The Garden Island
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PUHI — The rain from the passage of the Kona low on Saturday morning only slowed, not stop, the distribution of nearly 300 packages of food during the Malama Military campaign at Kaua‘i Community College.
PUHI — The rain from the passage of the Kona low on Saturday morning only slowed, not stop, the distribution of nearly 300 packages of food during the Malama Military campaign at Kaua‘i Community College.
“We bought 300 bags of rice on Friday afternoon,” said Stephanie Iona of the Kekaha agricultural association. “The people were wondering if we needed that much because of the weather. But, if we can’t distribute all of this, the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i can always use the rice for their other programs. It won’t go to waste.”
The Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i partnered with the Hawai‘i Army National Guard to push out the food packages to military service people, including veterans, and people who just needed the extra help through the steady rain in a drive-thru format in the Kaua‘i Community College parking lot.
“They (the National Guard) approached us to help do this drive following successful campaigns on Maui and the Big Island,” said Tish Remigio of the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i, whose staff was garbed in the familiar high visibility orange peppering the sea of military foul weather gear. “Even the military is not exempt from the high costs of inflation.”
One of the groups that were not among the line of cars waiting for food packages were the volunteers from the U.S. Coast Guard, who were involved in a neighborhood-based ditch cleanup in Lawai where rainfall from an earlier storm caused ditches to overflow and damaged three homes. That included a home being used by a Coast Guard family.
Food packages included items like fresh produce from Aloun Farms, hamburger, chicken, loaves of bread and assorted grocery items that were distributed by the food bank’s staff, National Guard personnel, including Team Rubicon. Members of the Waimea High School JROTC participated in the volunteer effort between their full day of fundraising efforts for an upcoming trip to participate in the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France.
For more information on the services available or to contribute, visit www.hawaiifoodbank.org.
