Maunakea Management, Observatories Help Deliver Food in East Hawai‘i

Hunter and Ishibashi delivery. PC: The Food Basket

The Office of Maunakea Management and Maunakea Observatories spent some time recently delivering food on behalf of The Food Basket to families in East Hawai‘i who have been unable to visit food drop sites.

The Food Basket said in a press release that the offer to help amid the COVID-19 pandemic was timely.

“Within a couple days, Wally (Ishibashi) from OMKM together with MKO representative Jessica Dempsey, of East Asian Observatory, arranged pickup of food boxes and deliveries to 70 homes in Hāmākua, Hilo, Puna, and Kalapana,” a press release from The Food Basket said.

To date, over 200 food boxes have been delivered to homes in Hāmākua, Hilo, Pāhoa, Kalapana, Mountain View and Volcano.

“We are thankful that they could lend a hand to help The Food Basket helps distribute food to those who need a hand in our community,” said The Food Basket’s Executive Director Kristin Frost Albrecht. “We were assured by the volunteer teams (that we could) count on them and ever since that first delivery on April 27, every Monday the trucks load up the boxes for home deliveries.”

Adhering to strict COVID-19 guidelines, the deliveries of food boxes are set up as a no-contact delivery service. As the observatory teams arrive at the various homes, they unload the food boxes at the home’s predetermined location, wave hello and on they go to the next location.

“We are unable to solve all the challenges of COVID-19, but as we come together, united, we can make a huge difference,” Ishibashi said.