Summer meal program set to feed 6,000 keiki throughout Big Island

Kaukau 4 Keiki, a summer food program by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will once again provide free weekly meal kits with a focus on reaching children under 18-years old in rural communities statewide.

On The Big Island, the sponsor agency for the federal program since 2021 has been the nonprofit Vibrant Hawaiʻi.

Last summer, Vibrant Hawaiʻi distributed breakfast and lunch food supplies to an estimated 5,070 keiki from 33 sites across Hawaiʻi County during the six-week program.

According to its 2024 impact report, 401,604 meals were provided by 522 volunteers with their time valued at $188,955. The program also directed $287,900 to 18 local farms to provide food.

This summer, food will be distributed to about 6,500 children per week at 31 sites, which include Vibrant Hawaiʻi resiliency hubs, organizations, schools and community centers.

The program has been important to provide meals to the thousands of children who receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year, but whose schools are unable to continue the service during the summer due to staffing, funding and logistical challenges. This often occurs in rural areas.

On the Big Island, meal kits come from two food providers, Hawaiʻi Foodservice Alliance and Hilo Products. They deliver pallets of canned goods, milk and boxes of locally grown produce every week to the 31 distribution sites that adds up to about 60,000 meals per week.

Janice Ikeda, executive director of Vibrant Hawaiʻi, said the Kaukau 4 Keiki program also is important as an annual coordination drill for resilience, with volunteers practicing how to respond to emergencies.

She said the nonprofit’s food distribution partners learn the routes in rural communities and becoming more familiar with road conditions, while the volunteers become more familiar with the most vulnerable families.

While volunteering for Kaukau 4 Keiki, community members also are actively learning and practicing how to team build and communicate, handle food safely, and collect and report data. They also are learning how to organize an influx of people looking for services, Ikeda said.

Additionally, there will be social service navigators located at each distribution site throughout the program. They will be getting identification, learning the needs of each community, and helping people connect with social services like federal SNAP food benefits or unemployment.

“Instead of asking individuals in these rural areas to come over an hour away from home to get these benefits, our navigators will meet them where they are and get to know them through the process,” Ikeda sad. “Everything is built on relationships and if we look upon past success, it’s always when we have community engaging with community and Vibrant Hawaiʻi is just the vessel for that.”

As the program grows, Vibrant Hawaiʻi hopes to start source more food locally and help grow agricultural opportunities islandwide.

“Our grounding statement is based on ʻauamo kuleana, which is really the shared responsibility of taking care of the community, the land and oneself,” Ikeda said. “We believe everyone has something they can contribute. With more volunteers offering their specific skillsets, we can create a foundation of shared values and travel toward a common goal.”

Registration for the 2025 program will be held May 26-30. Families are encouraged to register early as participation is on a first come, first served basis.

To register for Kaukau 4 Keiki, visit www.vibranthawaii.org/kaukau4keiki for locations.

Registration will be open at 8 a.m. every day during the registration window. Sites to register should be based on the child’s Department of Education school district. One application should be submitted for each child. A valid phone number also is required for application processing.

To be eligible for the program, children must be 18-years old and under, or persons with disabilities 19-years old and over who are enrolled in school programs. Children must reside in an eligible area and meals must be picked up in the town of residence, or the closest available site.

Children may not be enrolled in another USDA summer meal program, such as the Department of Education Summer Meals.

For more information about Kaukau 4 Keiki and program updates, please visit the Vibrant Hawaiʻi website, follow Vibrant Hawaiʻi on social media, or email k4k@vibranthawaii.org. 

To learn more about volunteers at a nearby resiliency hub, or elsewhere within Vibrant Hawaiʻi, email contact@vibranthawaii.org.