Big Islandʻs food bank adds more programs to battle rising costs and insecurity

Kristin Frost Albrecht, executive director of The Hawaiʻi Island Food Basket, said: “With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s a time when everyone starts to think about hunger, and itʻs a huge problem.”

According to a study by the Hawaiʻi Foodbank, more than 40% of Big Island households were reported as experiencing food insecurity in 2023, which means they did not have enough to eat and didn’t know where their next meal would come from. This is the highest rate of food insecurity in the state.

“For our island, our populations are spread out by miles,” Albrecht said. “If you look at Kalapana or Oceanview, resources are scarce and if you donʻt have transportation, itʻs difficult to find and receive help.”

The Hawaiʻi Island Food Basket is adding more programs to meet the growing immediate need, while also working toward its lofty goal of making the island fully self-sustainable to end hunger.

The Food Basket is partnering with the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard for its next ʻOhana Food Drop from 1 to 3 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Keaukaha Military Reservation. The drop is focused on serving Hawaiʻi Islandʻs veterans, service members of all military branches and their families, which have a large percentage of people facing food insecurity.

“This is our fourth food drop and we’ve slowly been seeing more people come out, which is a good thing because it means that the word has spread more across the island,” said Army Capt. Kevin Tam, 229th Cavalry.

“We always have had extra food at the end of a distribution and I know there are more veterans out there in need. We donʻt want anyone to feel any sort of shame coming through the line. No names are shared. There is no judgment. Weʻre just here to help out.”

The last food distribution between The Food Basket and the National Guard was on Sept. 20 and served about 373 households, made up of about 1,512 individuals. There are about 19,000 registered service members and veterans across the island, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

“I think some feel that they donʻt need help, or others need it more, but everyone needs help and weʻre here to do what we can,” Tam said. 

Along with its emergency food and pantry services, the Food Basket is also focused on creating more healthy food access programs that support local farmers and provide affordable access to fresh, Hawaiʻi Island grown produce to all of its communities.

For one of those programs, DA BOX, the Food Basket purchases Hawaiʻi Island grown produce from local farmers and resells it to customers island-wide through an affordable weekly or bi-monthly subscriptions.

The community supported agriculture program puts together a box of seven items, generally one to two fruits and five to six vegetables, and brings them to 23 sites in all districts.

Recently, The Food Basket began growing produce to distribute using Flex Farms, an indoor hydroponic system.

“We have these new flex farm hydroponic units up and running that are helping to supply our DA BOX program with fresh produce,” Albrecht said. “We were planning on having a full container of these hydroponic units, but it got damaged during shipping. Weʻre hoping to be able to get a replacement and weʻll add onto our smaller units.”

The Flex Farm allows for indoor, hydroponic growth with each unit growing more than 394 pounds of produce each year. They are portable and require a standard electrical outlet and less than 10 square feet of space.

Beginning this month, The Food Basket has launched a cheaper version of DA BOX with the Mea’ai Nani bag, which includes four to five fruits and vegetables with a greater focus on fruit that are perfectly safe to eat, but may have some quirks, irregular sizes or are surplus.

“We wanted to offer another sustainable choice that was also more budget-friendly to our larger (DA BOX option) so that everyone has access to nutritious produce,” Albrecht said. “This is our small way of preventing food waste, which helps build a sustainable future.”

The larger DA BOX has a weekly subscription for $80 for 4 weeks, or a bi-monthly subscription for $40 for 2 weeks. The Meaʻai Nani bag weekly subscription is $48 for 4 weeks and bi-monthly is $24 for 2 weeks. Subscriptions paid with SNAP-EBT receive an automatic 50% discount from our DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks program.

For those interested in contributing to Hawaiʻi Islandʻs Food Bank, the Fairmont Orchid will be hosting the 7th Annual Turkey Trot on Saturday, Nov. 23. All registration fees and donations are being donated to The Food Basket. Registration will be at 6:30 a.m. followed by the 5K race at 7:30 a.m.

Everything helps. Across the island, there are 12 food deserts, where the poverty rate is at least 20% and at least 33% of residents live more than 1 mile from a grocery store in urban areas or 10 miles in rural areas, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Five areas on Hawaiʻi Island have more than 100 households without a vehicle and are more than a half mile from the nearest supermarket.

“Even if you can get to a store from these rural areas, anyone can look at the prices and see how unsustainable they are,” Albrecht said. “We have over 100 food pantry sites all over the island, including rural areas, but they are not always accessible more than once a month.”

Along with physical barriers to food access, Albrecht said that there are many households coming to the Food Basket for the first time who have two employed parents, but still struggle to make ends meet. These are what is known as ALICE families (asset limited, income constrained and employed families), which often donʻt qualify for many federal assistance programs.

“We see an increase in need every year and there is a growing concern that more and more people are not eligible for benefits,” Albrecht said. “We do encourage people to not be shy with services. It can make a big difference and we have seen that.”