Dick Grimm, president of the Hawaii Foodbank, stood before long, largely empty warehouse shelves yesterday and lamented the decline in contributions the agency faces as it heads toward its Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday drive.

Two years ago, those shelves would have been filled, he said.

"I'd say we've probably had a drop of almost 2 million donations in the past two years," said Grimm. "That equals about a million and a half meals that we haven't been able to serve to needy families."

The reasons for the decline in donations are multiple, he explained — rising gas prices, skyrocketing apartment rents and the escalating costs of grains and dairy products. While prices have risen in Hawai'i, wages have not kept pace, he said. One of the more ironic reasons the Foodbank serves fewer hungry folks is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut back on its state food allotment.

"We're down in USDA product by about half a million pounds this year," said Grimm.

Reason: The allotment is based on Hawai'i's declining unemployment rate.

But Grimm said many of those working folks aren't earning enough to make ends meet, so they depend on the Foodbank for help to feed their families.

Grimm is banking on Hawai'i's famous generosity to kick in once people realize how desperate things have become.

He got a welcome dose of that good will yesterday after nearly 30,000 pounds of donated rice rolled through the warehouse doorway on 10 pallets. The bags of rice were a gift from Waste Management Inc., which had earlier called Grimm to ask how the company could assist Hawaii Foodbank right away.

He told them the agency could use a lot of rice.

"There was a human need, here," said Russell Nanod, community affairs manager for Waste Management, who gave the food bank a check for $7,000 to pay for the rice.

"We saw a story in the paper about the Hawaii Foodbank and the plight they're in. And after reading it, we recognized that if we could help ... it would be a wise thing to do. The need was immediate."

Nanod said his company would also contribute to Hawaii Foodbank's Subsidiary Distribution Organization on the Big Island, The Hawai'i Food Basket (formerly Hawai'i Island Food Bank), and enough food to feed kids for a weekend who are members of a Kaua'i program known as Back Pack for Kids.

Grimm said the rice donation filled an immediate need at the food bank. But he said the agency is still short on canned goods. Many of the families the agency serves are not able to refrigerate.

"So anything in a can is appreciated," he said. "Vegetables, canned fruit and rice are good. But the heaviest cost is the protein — that's the canned meats, soups, stews and things of that sort are what's really important."

When is the best time to make a donation?

Right now, said Grimm.

"People are hungry all year around, not just the holiday season," he said.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.