Get Ready for Annual Food Basket Feed-A-Thon

Feeding the hungry is a yearlong challenge.

For the past 20 years, Tommy “Kahikina” Ching has been hosting an islandwide food drive to help the Food Basket during the off holiday-season months. Starting Feb. 12, the 20th Annual Food Basket Feed-A-Thon will run for 10 consecutive days, giving residents and visitors an opportunity to help families in need.

“Every day during the Kahikina Food Drive we see our neighbors, friends and families donating money and canned food. Whether it’s just one can or one dollar, every donation helps,” said Kristin Frost Albrecht, The Food Basket, Hawai`i Island’s Food Bank Executive Director. “It’s so beautiful to see the outpouring of compassion, care and understanding for one another that that Kahikina’s drive inspires.”

The Food Basket is an islandwide, supplemental food network that collects and distributes nutritious, high-quality food to low-income households, the working poor, the disabled, the ill, senior citizens, children, and other members of the Big Island’s most vulnerable populations.

Ching, founder and organizer of the food drive, will be at various KTA Superstore locations throughout, greeting and thanking people for their donations. Food and monetary donations are equally welcomed, because money donated is used to purchase food at wholesale prices. According to Ching, “I can feed six people for just $3!”

To date, the Feed-A-Thon has provided more than two million pounds of food since the event began in 2001.

“Kahikina’s Feed-a-thon has always been a perfect complement to the services of The Food Basket,” Albrecht said. “Through his activities we can continue to provide food for those who aren’t currently in a position to provide for themselves. We’ve seen a huge increase in need, in large part due to the continued recovery from the back-to-back disasters of the Kilauea Lava Flow and Hurricane Lane.”

The drive will be at the following KTA Superstore locations:

• Feb. 12-13: KTA – Kailua-Kona  (Kona Coast Shopping Center, 74-5594 Palani Road, 808-329-1677).
• Feb. 14-15: Waikoloa Village Market (Waikoloa Highlands Center, 68-3916 Paniolo Avenue, Waikoloa Village 808-883-1088).
• Feb. 16-17: KTA – Waimea Center (65-1158 Mamalahoa Highway, Kamuela, 808-885-8866).
• Feb. 18-19: KTA – Puainako (50 East Puainako Street, Hilo, 808-959-9111).
• Feb. 20-21: KTA – Keauhou (Keauhou Shopping Center, 78-6831 Ali`i Drive, 808-322-2311).

For more information, contact The Food Basket 808-933-6030 or www.hawaiifoodbasket.org