HILO — An estimated $1 million in goods and services will be available to the public free of charge at Hawaii Island’s first Convoy of Hope, today on the fairgrounds at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo.
HILO — An estimated $1 million in goods and services will be available to the public free of charge at Hawaii Island’s first Convoy of Hope, today on the fairgrounds at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo.
Doors open at 10 a.m., and a multitude of local businesses, churches, government agencies and nonprofit organizations will provide free groceries, a hot meal, health services, haircuts, family portraits, job services, a kids’ zone, veterans’ services and more.
“Come in as you are. No ID is necessary; you don’t have to show proof of being on welfare or anything like that. Just come as you are, and bring your family,” said Moana-Lei Mauga, Convoy of Hope Big Island coordinator.
Mauga said the idea of a gathering providers of goods and services to a community in one location “originated from response to natural disasters.”
“Of course, we do not have a natural disaster every day,” she said. “And we organized this to coordinate with all these community outreach services that we know of. This is our fourth year in Hawaii, the first year on the Big Island. I believe the last one in Hawaii was in 2013. This has been in the planning since November, but I came aboard in February. I’ve been talking to people and scouting since then. We have, so far, 26 organizations on board for the community resources. We have maybe 10 organizations serving veterans that are on board.”
Convoy of Hope, a faith-based organization founded in 1994, has a long history as an early responder in times of natural disasters, and touts its “driving passion to feed the world.” It has a 4-star rating, the highest, by Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. In 2015, 82,000 “guests of honor” were served by Convoy of Hope community events throughout the U.S.