State must help provide food security

It cannot be overstated: The need for food is immense. The incredible spike in need has crippled Hawaiʻi’s supply chains and overwhelmed our emergency food networks.

In a cruel paradox, it is Hawaiʻi’s rural communities—those that produce our food—that are suffering the most. On Hawaiʻi Island, nearly a quarter of the workforce is now unemployed, and it’s not whom you might expect: farm vans are lining up for food right alongside hospitality industry vehicles. In fact, The Food Basket (Hawaiʻi Island’s Food Bank) has seen triple the volume of individuals seeking food assistance, and 75-85 percent of its clientele are now “first-time food bank users.”

Kūpuna are also particularly affected. Lanakila Meals on Wheels has seen an increase of over 30 percent in the number of seniors fed through its home-delivered meal service. In total, kūpuna-serving organizations have provided nearly 28,000 meals to 5,000 seniors a week on Oʻahu alone, according to numbers compiled by the Kupuna Food Security Coalition.

Absent any meaningful support from the state since the start of the pandemic, Hawaiʻi philanthropists have stepped up in a big way. But the truth is, we can’t rely on charity forever. We need institutional support—in the form of federal stimulus funds and ongoing support from the state—in order to stabilize the situation. That’s why programs that leverage federal dollars are the cornerstone of the Hawaiʻi Farm to Family CARES Act proposal.

This crisis has shattered life as we know it. Once we swing past it, it may be hard to remember what life was like before. “World War II brought us SPAM,” says Hunter Heaivilin, food resilience coordinator at the Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute. “What will COVID-19’s legacy be for Hawaiʻi’s food system?”

As the legislature reconvenes to decide the fate of these funds, it should know: People need food now. It may be our once-in-a-lifetime chance to pivot toward the kind of food system we want for Hawaiʻi’s future.