The amount of food contributed by patrons to the Lihue Public Library overwhelmed and surprised the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai representatives on Thursday when they stopped by to pick up the collection.
“This is a lot of food,” said Wes Perreira, manager of the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai. “We’re going back to the warehouse and get boxes to pack the food. We’ll be back.”
While waiting on the arrival of Corteva agriscience which was scheduled to drop off its annual contributions to the two food banks, Perreia said, they were scheduled to make a late-date delivery to the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Mana to take care of more than 170 families that are feeling the impacts of the government shutdown. The trip to the base is in addition to normally scheduled deliveries of fresh produce for the area schools’ pantry program that ensures keiki have food.
“We get a lot of food coming in,” Perreira said. “But as fast as the food comes in, it’s already going out the door.”
Corteva agriscience contributed more than a hundred pounds of food, and nearly $1,100 in financial to both the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai and the Kauai Independent Food Bank.
Earlier, the Garden Isle Racing Association, represented by motorcycle racer Marci Latch, dropped off a $500 contribution to the Hawaii Foodbank Kauai.
“This year, we focused on cash contributions,” said Kristen Ma of Corteva agriscience. “With the government shutdown and the reduction of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, it’s hard to know what people need.”
Lihue Public Library patrons were just plain generous as cases of Vienna sausages and instant noodles and full grocery bags overflowed the collection boxes and spilled onto shelves that would normally hold books and other library supplies. The collection represented the food drive efforts that started Monday through most of the libraries in the state.
The drive to help workers and families impacted by the government shutdown continues through Friday afternoon.
“Our patrons have been very generous,” said Kristen Hillman, the Lihue Library branch manager. “According to the group chat, Koloa and Kapaa public libraries have also said they are enjoying big collections.”
Perreira said almost every food supplier, including the big wholesalers and food pantry programs, haves reported higher-than-normal demand for food.
But the uncertainty of how long the government shutdown will last, or when the first of the SNAP relief payments are going to start, make it difficult to have sufficient food resources.
“This is COVID,” U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda told the 78th Farm Bureau Convention on Tuesday when she provided a Washington, D.C., update of agriculture in a question-and-answer format. “The difference is there are no millions of dollars in relief like there was during the pandemic.”
Source: The Garden Island