Next to sparsely stocked shelves at The Food Basket’s Kona Warehouse, Marshall Akamu holds a wicker basket.
Next to sparsely stocked shelves at The Food Basket’s Kona Warehouse, Marshall Akamu holds a wicker basket.
Within is one can each Vienna sausage, evaporated milk, and corn accompanied by a bag of bagels and a bottle of Italian salad dressing.
This is about all the island’s lone food bank is able to provide each of the 3,000 hungry families it helps via 37 agencies, such as the Salvation Army, each month in West Hawaii, which stretches from Ocean View to Honokaa, he says. Things are not much different in East Hawaii, where the The Food Basket helps 4,500 families — a household with at least two people — through about 60 agencies.
“It’s nothing. You see how bad it is,” says Akamu, the warehouse operations manager, whose eyes tell more than his words about the pain he feels having to limit the help the food bank can provide the agencies that serve thousands of families in need on the Big Island. “It’s really a sad situation. We are here to help the people out because it’s very hard to get nutritious food on the table, and that’s what we’re here for.”
On Friday afternoon, Akamu took this West Hawaii Today editor and a photographer on a tour of the steamy warehouse located south of Honalo. Empty shelves and slots were common, even in the area where the organization stores items like peanut butter, boxed milk, some canned goods and juice, as well as some frozen proteins such as chicken, it gets from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Akamu points out that he has just three pallets of “proteins” — a mix of canned meats like Vienna sausage and Spam, and bags of dry beans. Two of those pallets are in back; the other has been sorted and is on the floor with a sign limiting agencies to just two bags containing about six items. The case is nearly the same for canned vegetables, with one partial pallet in storage and another pallet filled with bags for the agencies. That’s two bags of protein and vegetables per agency, not per family, per month, says Akamu. An agency like the Salvation Army, he says, serves 150 families.
“We cannot meet their needs, so we have to be fair to each agency and limit them,” he explains. “If we were to give everyone what they wanted, we wouldn’t be able to give (food) to everyone that needs it.”
Evaporated and powdered milk are also scarce, though there are about 50 cans of sweetened condensed milk. There is no canned fruit. Refrigerator units are nearly empty, with the exception of bagels and other bread items. There is more than a pallet of 20 pound bags of rice, thanks to a recent donation, and plenty of snack items, which Akamu agreed is food, but wishes it was more nutritious goods.
But, there is a glimmer of light in the middle of the warehouse: A fully stocked display of items like stuffing, sauce mixes, goodies, condiments and other items. “We just set this up, it’s pretty much all that we have,” he says.
There are also dozens of boxes stacked on higher shelves, reaching nearly to the roof. “They’re empty,” Akamu says.
It’s nothing new to Akamu not having all the nutritious items he dreams he could help the community with, “it’s an ongoing problem,” he says, noting that while things seem to be improving economically there are still many in need. But with such limits on what The Food Basket provides agencies for each family is making the situation worse.
Hunger is not a problem limited to any community, island or state, but rather one that affects millions across the nation.
According to the most recent USDA Household Food Security in the United States in 2014 report issued in September, one in seven households reported being food insecure at least some time during the year; 5.6 percent of those households reported having very low food security, meaning food intake was reduced and eating patterns disrupted at times during the year because of a lack of money and other resources for food. Both numbers were for the most part unchanged from 2013.
Sixty-one percent of food-insecure households in 2014 reported that in the previous month, they had participated in one or more federal food and nutrition assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), SNAP for Women, Infants and Children and the National School Lunch Program, according to the report.
In Hawaii, 12.3 percent of the 462,000 households represented in the study reported being food insecure at times. Four percent reported very low food security, according to the report.
The Hawaii Food Basket, according to its most recent newsletter, says it reached one in three Big Island residents in 2014 through its numerous partner agencies and meal programs. During the year, it provided 3.3 million pounds of food assistance.
With so many families in need of help, Akamu, who admits to being more of the person who works in the background and keeps quiet, is now asking for the community’s help to restock The Food Basket’s shelves not only ahead of and during the holiday season, but also throughout the year. He is quick, however, to praise the efforts of his two co-workers at the Kona Warehouse and of En Young, The Food Basket’s executive director, for their work trying to make ends meet and provide more nutritious items to those in need. Young did not respond for comment as of press time Saturday.
“People always think that we are always stocked; we are the food bank and that we don’t need help,” Akamu says, adding that the generous support of the community during the holiday season and the help it currently receives throughout the year are more than appreciated. “We actually need help all year. We really definitely need the help of everybody.”
And Akamu means everybody: from individuals who volunteer and businesses and organizations that set up food drives to farmers and those in the community he believes have the power to make a difference. He’d also like to see stores consider donating excess produce to the food bank.
“We need community leaders to get involved to help us out,” he said. “We all should put ourselves in their shoes and realize what we have. … If everybody gives a helping hand, you know how much support we can get.”
For more information on The Food Basket, visit www.hawaiifoodbasket.org.
Ways to help
– Want to volunteer? Call Akamu in Kona at 322-1418. In Hilo, call The Food Basket at 933-6030. Applications are also available online at https://www.hawaiifoodbasket.org/donate. Volunteers must be at least 16 years of age.
– Want to hold a food drive? Call Akamu in Kona at 322-1418. In Hilo, call 933-6030.
– Are you a farmer and want to provide produce? Call En Young, The Food Basket’s executive director, at 933-6030.
– Want to make a monetary donation? Visit https://www.hawaiifoodbasket.org/donate or call 933-6030.
– Kona’s local Rotary clubs will hold the fourth annual Menehune Holiday Food Drive Dec. 12 at nine retailers in West Hawaii, from Captain Cook to Waimea. That same day, the Hawaii Food Basket will collect donations during the Kailua-Kona Community Christmas Parade, which starts at 5 p.m. at Kekuaokalani Gymnasium and ends at Walua Road.
– Attend a Hui Kakoo Monthly Concert at Keauhou Shopping Center held on the last Saturday of each month. Admission is at least two cans of food that goes to The Food Basket.
– Various stores and retailers around the island have bins set up to collect donations for The Food Basket.