More than 8,500 pounds of food were distributed on Monday from the Kauai Independent Food Bank facility for federal workers affected by the government shutdown.
The food was picked up and taken to more central areas serving local employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Transportation Security Administration. According to Kelvin Moniz, the executive director of KIFB, the distribution broke down to a total of 191 families — 61 from the USDA and 130 from TSA.
“We were really generous,” Moniz said. “Each package includes rice, cans of Spam, assorted canned food, fresh produce, hamburger and chicken. A lot of the food was packed ahead of time at KIFB by volunteers.”
The Wednesday delivery represents one of the first deliveries where food was delivered to employees impacted by the government shutdown. Since Oct. 1, when Congress failed to pass new funding legislation for the fiscal year, federal workers have not been paid. Workers have either been furloughed or are required to keep working, but will not get paychecks until the budget issue is resolved.
Following weeks of news accounts talking about the anticipated impact on families, and the upcoming elimination of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, KIFB wanted to help out.
“This should help carry them for now,” Moniz said. “We have a big public food distribution coming up on Nov. 19, starting at 1 p.m. at the Kauai Veterans Center where we plan to have at least 500 packages of food.”
He also said that the food choices for inclusion in the packages are designed to stretch the food.
“It’s like the old days,” Moniz said. “You can take the hamburger and make chili or spaghetti sauce — there’re cans of tomato sauce in the package, too — where you can enjoy now and freeze some for later on.”
In addition to the big food distribution in November, Moniz said the KIFB offers emergency food distributions on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, starting at 10 a.m.
“You need to be here early, like right at 10 a.m.,” said Jennifer Harper of KIFB. “Since all of this started, we’ve been getting a lot of phone calls, and with SNAP ending on Saturday, we have noticed a lot of new faces in line.”
To help carry the food bank through this period of uncertainty, Moniz said KIFB will continue its food drive through the rest of the year. People wishing to help can contribute through the KIFB website at www.kauaifoodbank.org, or drop off new, unexpired nonperishable food at its Nawiliwili facility located at 3285 Waapa Road.
“We just received one of the larger food collections of more than 750 pounds of food from the Waimea Canyon Middle School Haunted House,” Moniz said. “We really appreciate this. The food will definitely help families — especially the keiki and kupuna.”
Source: The Garden Island