Hawaii Foodbank Hawaii Foodbank donations have increased significantly over the past few months but still do not meet the demand as more people turn to the charitable network because of lost jobs and welfare reform.
struggles to meet
rising demands
Donations are up, but the need
for food has gone up even moreBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comIn February, for example, donations were up 38 percent, but total distribution was up 44 percent, said Dick Grimm, president of Hawaii Foodbank.
"In our canned goods -- canned vegetables, canned meat, Spam or corned beef -- we're really, really short on that. We have ordered some with state money, but that goes out so quickly, it's amazing," Grimm said.
Grimm said that donations of these nonperishable food items have increased when counting the food purchased with the state grant.
However, fresh produce is less readily available than it was last year. Right after Sept. 11, there was a significant increase in produce, then "the donations went down because farmers were not producing as much product because there was no demand for it because the tourism was so low," Grimm said.
In January the Foodbank distributed 138,000 pounds of produce, 28,000 pounds less than in January 2001. Produce distribution was down 61,000 pounds in October and 53,000 pounds in November.
"The produce is to help balance (distribution) nutrition-wise, but the main gist of our efforts is to make sure people have staples that will keep and they won't have to throw away in four to five days," Grimm said.
These canned goods helped raise overall donations by 100,000 pounds in November, 120,000 pounds in December and 125,000 pounds in January.
However, average daily distribution was also up by almost 13,500 pounds -- 405,000 pounds a month -- over last year, Grimm said.
The Foodbank hopes to replenish its supplies during its annual statewide food drive on April 27, followed by the mail carriers' drive in May.