Food bank demand soars since 9/11
| • | Chart: Hawaii Foodbank food distribution |
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
The number of people needing help from the Hawai'i Foodbank has increased sharply because of the economic fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and is still rising, officials said yesterday.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
"This makes our community food drive this coming Saturday more important than ever before," said Polly Kauahi, director of fund development for the food bank.
Eric Westfall, a warehouse staff member at the Hawaii Foodbank, moves pallets of candy bars to make room for inventory that is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. In the foreground are boxes of unsorted canned goods.
The food bank thought its distribution had peaked after changes in welfare laws that cut payments to the poor in the late 1990s, she said.
But after one stable year, food distributions in Hawai'i soared 13 percent to a record 8.5 million pounds of food from June 2001 to June 2002.
Demand is expected to increase another 6 percent this fiscal year, she said.
Although the public contributes just 9 percent of the estimated 9 million pounds of food being donated this fiscal year, the food bank depends on that 9 percent to make up a big deficit in high-protein canned goods.
• The 14th Annual Hawaii Foodbank drive on O'ahu culminates Saturday with drive-by donations of food and money being accepted at several locations from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. • Donations are being accepted at Restaurant Row, Koko Marina Center, Town Center of Mililani, McCully Shopping Center, Pearl City Shopping Center, Wai'anae Mall, Windward City Shopping Center, Waiokeola Congregational Church in Kahala, and various military locations. • Every $10 donated allows the food bank to distribute enough food to provide 100 meals to the needy, through 480 local feeding programs. • Goals for O'ahu are 525,000 pounds of nutritious food and $400,000 in financial contributions. • Canned goods are a high priority, including meats or tuna, meals such as spaghetti, chili or corned beef, soups, vegetables and fruits, and beans.
Much of the rest of the food donated by private companies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the national food bank campaign is relatively low in protein, she said.
Food drive
Tuna is the most nutritious canned protein people can easily contribute, Kauahi said. The canned protein people ask for most in Hawai'i is Spam.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines families as being "food insecure" if they have enough calories, but with diets of reduced quality that do not meet daily nutritional requirements. Families that are "food insecure with hunger" go without food because they do not have enough money to buy it.
In 2001, the state completed a survey that concluded that about 221,000 of Hawai'i's residents were "food insecure," and that included more than 53,000 individuals counted as "hungry" because they couldn't afford the food they needed.
A survey by the national food bank organization, America's 2nd Harvest, has concluded that about 118,000 people use the food bank in Hawai'i.
Contrary to public opinion, Hawaii's hungry and food insecure are not all homeless or even poor, she said.
Some 44 percent of the people the Hawai'i Foodbank serves are employed, but still need to supplement their food supply with donations from the food bank, she said.
Hawai'i has always come through, Kauahi said, with donations steadily increasing as the need grows.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
