Foodbank helps
recently laid-off
union members

Labor organizations donated
groceries and household items

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

Single mom Miriam Cantorna may not be able to provide a turkey for her three children this Thanksgiving, but she was happy to receive some boxes of groceries.

Cantorna, 36, was one of thousands of union workers laid off after Sept. 11. She and others got a helping hand yesterday from fellow union members with emergency boxes of food and other items at the Hawaii Foodbank.

"We are happy because I get a gift to give my kids," said Cantorna, who was laid off from her housekeeping job at the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel on Sept. 16.

Cantorna receives only partial unemployment because she gets called back to work a couple times a month. Although she is looking for work, she has not found anything yet.

"Who's hiring? Everybody no more job," she said.

Working union members and various unions donated money to purchase laundry detergent, canned meat, fruits and vegetables, tissues, Pop Tarts, cookies and soda. Some individuals gave as much as $150.

Lynn Ching, state AFL-CIO Community Services Program liaison, said they were prepared with boxes for 750 families, but only 600 filled out claim forms. Ching said they would have provided more if the demand had been greater. The unions tried to get out the word to members who had signed up for food assistance, but it was a last-minute event, she said.

"Our idea is not to turn anyone away," Ching said.

There will be another opportunity next month, Ching said.

At first, fine-dining waiter and former sommelier Stuart Silva was not going to sign up for the free food.

"I turned them down because I thought there were others worse off," said the 39-year-old, who lost his position when Musashi's restaurant at the Hyatt Regency shut down Sept. 22. Silva did not qualify for unemployment because he quit his previous job to work at the Hyatt. The restaurant closed on his second day of work.

"If it wasn't for my wife, I'd be living at Ala Moana Beach Park," he said.

Silva has applied for two to three jobs a week since Sept. 22 and has not received a single call back.

"No one wants to hire me," he said. "It's kind of demoralizing. For guys like me, this is my career, this is what I do."

Julie Teruya, who lost her job on the SS Independence, said, "I know there are people out there who need help but don't know it's there, or some are too proud."

While some were picking up food, letter carrier Robin Trevors drove up with a box of food donations from union members at the Pearl City Post Office.

"We do what we can," Trevors said. "We're happy that we have jobs, even with rubber gloves."