Anjoal Del Rosario and her children walked away from the Ohana Produce market with three bulging bags of bananas, potatoes, lettuce, eggplant, apples and asparagus, with a few loaves of bread and tubes of ready-to-bake biscuits thrown in on the side. Free produce draws
families to EwaBy Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin"My babies, they eat so much. This will help us a lot," said the mother of five children. "I just love this."
It was her first visit to the monthly produce-dispensing outlet at Immaculate Conception Church in Ewa Village, an operation that is truly an "open" market. She and nearly 300 other people received free fresh fruit and vegetables Friday from the Hawaii Foodbank program, which is implemented through local food pantries.
Marylee Willis, director of the parish outreach office, said as many as 600 people apply for the free produce in any given month; they come from Aiea, Pearl City, Kapolei, Makakilo and Ewa Beach, as well as Ewa.
Willis and 20 other volunteers unloaded cartons containing 15,000 pounds of vegetables and fruit and laid them out in the parish hall for the highly organized three-hour market.
Numbered tickets were distributed first-come, first-served, and a limited number of people allowed inside at a time. Each person was issued two plastic supermarket bags, and it was the shopper's choice whether to get a mixture or corner the market on asparagus. People with larger families, like Del Rosario and her boyfriend, were allowed extra bags.
"This is my vegetable girl," Del Rosario said of daughter Louena, and she let the 5-year-old pick plenty of her favorites.
"I have to watch what I eat. I always get lots of vegetables," said Margie Rees, one of many retirees in the line. "If I was to go to the store, I would pay a lot for this. That's why senior citizens come."
Marcelina Reyes said, "No. 1, we are low income and this is a big help, and No. 2, I like to meet people over here." She said many of the shoppers live across the street in D.E. Thompson public housing for seniors.
After most shoppers shunned the local oranges, which lack the showy orange skin of mainland varieties, a volunteer cut up a few and dispensed samples as at a food show. Also mostly shunned were colored and curly-leafed lettuces that might be found in a trendy restaurant's salads.
Some things clearly had languished beyond a retail store's pull date, but not everything was timeworn. Glicero Albier went exclusively for the firm green bananas, quipping, "We like banana splits."
Volunteers on the assembly line were pushing potatoes, not a favorite among the local people in line. Stacked behind them were a dozen unopened 50-pound bags of potatoes.
Polly Kauahi of Hawaii Foodbank said about 1 million pounds of produce is donated every year by island markets and growers. Foodbank volunteers sort out damaged goods and strip off dry or rotting pieces before monthly deliveries to outreach centers in Waianae, Waimanalo, the North Shore and Waipahu. Food pantries closer to Honolulu receive produce more frequently, and other fresh food is given to feeding programs such as the River of Life Mission and Institute for Human Services.
"There are a lot of homeless people and lots of young families who are struggling," said Willis. "We don't judge (whether an applicant qualifies). Even if they have a car and a home, they still have their problems."
Most of the people in line are also regular customers at the parish food pantry, which dispenses canned goods and other nonperishables five mornings a week. The parish also uses Catholic Charities grants to help pay rent and utilities bills for about 10 people each month, she said.
The 71-year-old widow has been a church volunteer for five years after retiring from a state job and, eight years later, from the Castle & Cooke receiving department. She was one of 78 Catholic volunteers honored Thursday by Catholic Charities as "Island Treasures."
Alison Harney, struggling with three bags and three children in the line, said: "My husband and I live from paycheck to paycheck. We have five children at home. This helps a lot with the grocery bill."