Community

Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna $50K closer to future of providing meals, groceries for anyone who needs them

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A community foodshare program in Honoka‘a celebrated its sixth anniversary this weekend while rejoicing in knowing it is on its way to a future of continuing to feed anyone who needs a meal or groceries.

Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna recently received national recognition with grant awards of more than $50,000, giving the program good momentum toward its sustaining goal of $2 million.

Volunteers with the community foodshare program Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna in Honoka’a pose for a photo. (Photo Courtesy: Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna)

“We have really been blessed with these grants,” said Miles Okumura, chairman of the Honoka‘a Hongwanji Peace Committee, the organization behind the program.

Funding through the grants is a huge boost for Feeding Our Keiki and Kūpuna — which serves more than 400 warm meals and provides about 1.5 tons of groceries to 225 households each Friday.

The program has made and distributed a total of more than 97,000 warm meals for community members and delivered about 450 tons of groceries to kūpuna and shut-ins during the past 6 yeras.

Feeding Our Keiki and Kūpuna also provides food for other community groups such as the United Methodist Church of Honoka‘a, Hāmākua Youth Center, Papa‘aloa Hongwanji Buddhist temple, Honoka‘a Senior Living Center, Hāmākua Health Center, The Salvation Army and others.

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AARP Hawai‘i announced in June last year that Feeding Our Keiki and Kūpuna won an $11,970 Community Challenge Grant as part of the Livable Communities Initiative.

The program also received $30,000 from the Atherton Family Foundation to support use of temple facilities and utilities, improve building security and install commercial equipment.

Hawai‘i County awarded the community foodshare program $10,000 from contingency relief funds for meal ingredients and food for grocery distribution.

AARP also awarded Okumura and his wife Lynn Higashi with the 2024 Andrus Award, along with a $1,000 donation.

Miles Okumura, chairman of the Honoka‘a Hongwanji Peace Committee, the organization behind Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna, and his wife Lynn Higashi, a longtime volunteer with the community foodshare program, were awarded the 2024 Andrus Award, along with a $1,000 donation from AARP. (Photo Courtesy: Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna)

“We were in Minnesota when we heard about the award,” Okumura said. “We went to AARP presentations at the statewide meeting in Honolulu and Hilo, and so many people have reached out to congratulate us. It’s humbling.”

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The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai‘i Social Concerns Committee gave Feeding Our Keiki and Kūpuna another $1,000.

“Thanks to the generous grants, we are set for our grocery and small improvement budgets for the year,” said co-founder Ravi Singh.

The community foodshare program started in 2017 as a Hāmākua Youth Center cultural education cooking class for keiki. It expanded in 2019 to what it is today.

“Our volunteers are formidable,” Okumura said. “Every week, different teams shop, receive food deliveries, set up grocery bags, pack, prep food, plate and distribute meals and clean up, and four different teams do home deliveries.”

It’s quite a production, “and those 45 [to] 50 volunteers, from teenagers to kūpuna, take their part seriously,” added Okumura.

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About 3,500 pounds of groceries and produce are delivered each week in addition to the warm meals. The program also provides special groceries for those without access to kitchens.

“The volunteers are the superheroes who really make this happen,” said Singh. “Miles and I may have first proposed the idea, but Lynn [Higashi] and my partner Annie Kroeger were right there from the beginning, and still working. Annie herself has cooked [15,000]-20,000 meals.”

Providing high-quality warm meals to hundreds of people on a weekly basis — at the root of Feeding Our Keiki and Kūpuna — couldn’t be done without high-quality people in the kitchen. Singh said Kroeger, executive chef Sandy Barr Rivera, James McKenzie and other kitchen volunteers take their work to heart.

A sign outside Honoka‘a Hongwanji tells people to come eat during one of the weekly dinners provided by community foodshare program Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna in Honoka‘a. (Photo Courtesy: Feeding Our Keiki & Kūpuna)

“And we would encourage chefs — especially vegetarian chefs — to come and help,” he said.

While the recent influx of thousands of dollars in grant funds is more than welcome, the need is still there for more to make sure the program can continue its mission with the right ingredients for success.

That includes improvements to its facilities.

“We have capitol improvement project needs now. Our parking lot and roof need upgrades, otherwise when the next hurricane comes, we won’t be able to continue feeding people,” Singh said.

Donations are always appreciated, and Singh encourages any private donors who want to step up and help to call.

People can donate online or send checks, for “The Peace Committee,” to Honoka’a Hongwanji; P.O. Box 1667, Honoka‘a, HI 96727.

Feeding Our Keiki and Kūpuna can always use fresh fruits and vegetables, simple items such as paper bags and egg cartons and children’s books, too.

Call 808-640-4602 or email to misterokumura@yahoo.com to get more information, discuss a donation or find out how you can help keep feeding keiki, kūpuna and others in Honoka‘a and throughout the Big Island’s Hāmākua Coast.

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