What these two dynamic women want is for kamaaina to help the Hawaii Foodbank and Aloha Harvest feed the hungry during the holiday season.

Liholiho students recently helped driver Willie Winn load the Aloha Harvest truck with 1,000 pounds of food. Photos by Randy T. Fujimori

During last year's event, Jamba Juice locations across the Island amassed a total of 40,000 pounds of canned fruits and veggies. This year, Jones wants to increase that number by 5,000 pounds.

"Even before we had signage up for the campaign, one woman came in and donated 800 cans," Jones said. "If this is a sign of things to come, we should be able to reach the 45,000-pound goal."

Residents can contribute their five — or hopefully more — cans of fruits and vegetables at any one of 21 Jamba Juice locations on Oahu.

"In return, they'll receive a free 16-ounce original smoothie, which they can get on the spot or they can redeem a certificate at a later date," Jones said. "Last year, we gave away 8,000 smoothies and I'm sure it will be more this year."

Jamba Juice's "5-a-day Keeps Hunger Away!" will continue through Dec. 28.

"Food donations in October and November were down 27 percent and 18 percent, respectively," said Hawaii Foodbank development director Polly Kauahi. "We really want to encourage the community to support the campaign to help us rebuild our supply of canned fruits and vegetables so we can continue to feed the hungry during the holidays."

Because food is such a part of the holidays, Lori Kaya anticipates the Foodbank will see an increase in need.

"The 250 different agencies that we provide food for want to give their clients more," said Kaya, who oversees Hawaii Foodbank's grants and communications division. "So naturally, we'll try to provide them with more and we'll look to the community to help out."

Chun also turns to kamaaina for kokua during this time of the year. Recently, her pleas of help were answered by students at Liholiho and Pohakea elementary schools.

Dressed as Jamba Juice's Banana Lady, Teneal Jones sat atop a pallet of canned goods that was collected for the Hawaii Foodbank.

At Pohakea, second graders collected $105 for Aloha Harvest. Meanwhile Liholiho students donated 1,000 pounds of mostly canned goods.

"We do see a greater need at this time of the year," Chun said. "But luckily, we also see an increase amount of food donations from catered parties, restaurants, hotels and food distributors. Our truck used to be parked by 2 p.m. Now, it's out there until 6 p.m. at times."

In its "Quality of Life in Hawaii" study for the Aloha United Way, the University of Hawai'i Center on the Family found that homelessness affects 961 people out of every 100,000 state residents, and extends across all age groups. Eleven percent of Hawaii's homeless are age 5 and younger. Ten percent are ages 6 to 12.

And these numbers don't account for the people who are just one paycheck away from being homeless, Chun said.

"This is the marginal population," she asserted. "Because of the soaring cost of housing, gas and electricity and cutbacks in social programs, there are more and more people who may need to rely on the food we provide to the various agencies."

And this means that Chun and Jones will have to appeal more to the community's generosity and aloha spirit.