Aloha spirit intensifies during
By Mary Adamski
the holiday season, but it's not enough
to help everyone in need
Star-BulletinKokua Castle is under construction in Nuuanu. It's nearly 3 feet tall, 6 feet wide, and young architects at Maemae Elementary School are aiming to double that.
The building blocks are canned and packaged food the children are donating to the needy.
Most public and private schools have pre-holiday food drives. Maemae decided to dramatize it this year with the project taking shape in the school library, said teacher Matt Nakamura. "They can see their contribution adding to the total picture and how every little bit helps." Tuesday is demolition day; the Salvation Army will haul the food away for distribution.
Employees at Hawaiian Electric Co. did something similar in their annual food drive. Adults and children competed in creating decorations for cans and boxes they donated in one of the biggest company holiday food drives in town.
Their creative surprises are among more than a ton of food items that Heco workers will deliver Saturday to food pantries at St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki, St. John Vianney Church in Kailua, Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Pearl City and St. Rita Church in Nanakuli.
Social agencies that provide food and other support to the homeless and disadvantaged are happy to reach this season when more fortunate residents are moved to share what they have. The charitable organizations have all seen increases in need but not a matching rise in giving.
"The demand has definitely risen, but meanwhile cutbacks and layoffs are taking a toll," said Mariellen Byrnes-Jones, director of the Community Clearing House. "I see a lot less participation by companies because a lot of companies are hurting. A business that normally would contribute is in the position of laying employees off.
"I don't see less of the aloha spirit, less of a desire to help. It's just that people are giving on less of a grand scale," Byrnes-Jones said.
Byrnes-Jones conducted a Wednesday training session for 75 volunteers who will work at the agency's Kapalama warehouse sorting donations and preparing an estimated 3,000 boxes to be given away each holiday.A week before Thanksgiving, the clearinghouse had about half the food needed to meet demands from agencies that tap its resources, she said.
"We don't just need a food drive; we need a linen drive and a children's clothes drive. We need things you wouldn't think of. We get toys at Christmas, but who ever thinks of batteries? But there are people who can't afford to buy batteries for a child's toy."
"The need has tripled, as far as people coming to food pantries, depending on the area," said Leelama Palazzotto, director of the Catholic Office of Social Ministry for Oahu. Several Catholic parishes operate food pantries, each tailored to an area's need. Some will be distributing supermarket certificates for a turkey dinner and all the fixings. Others serve homeless individuals with no cooking or storage facilities and hand out "one day's worth every day. It's amazing what we take for granted," said Palazzotto.
Aid distributed by the Catholic parishes is not limited to Catholic recipients.
"Since March our office spent $39,000 for rent and $7,500 for utility assistance" given to people on a one-time basis, often to stave off eviction or discontinued power or water service, she said.
Palazzotto's office pooled money collected by several food pantries to qualify for a 6 percent discount on turkey dinner certificates sold by Foodland supermarkets. "So far we've gotten $14,000, not just for turkey dinners but also individual grocery certificates. By pooling resources, some more affluent parishes help others less affluent," Palazzotto said.
This is the 10th year that Foodland has offered the certificate deal.
"Our customers gave holiday meals to 2,500 people in a year," said Shirley Kuma, director of community relations. Shoppers can buy the certificates in stores through the end of December. The gift vouchers are mostly distributed by the Salvation Army. Kuma said the idea stemmed from a suggestion by a Maui customer.
Jim Baldwin, president of Hawaii Foodbank, said he has seen about a 20 percent increase in demand over the past year. "Without going into the 'poor economy' rhetoric, it's not just the unemployed. There are people moving off welfare but unfortunately getting low-income jobs."
"I haven't seen a decline in the level of people giving," Baldwin said. The Mapunapuna warehouse shelves of Hawaii Foodbank are primarily stocked with goods from food retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. The Foodbank is a key resource for 275 agencies that distribute food directly to the needy; it charges those agencies 14 cents per pound to offset operating costs.
The organization also conducts an annual food drive among residents and other donors in April. "We look to the community to acquire a better mix of food," said Baldwin. "For example, there may be a week when we get a truckload of nothing but cereal" from a food industry source. Hawaii Foodbank distributed 6.1 million pounds of food in the fiscal year that ended in June.
Another giant in the good Samaritan business is the Salvation Army, which distributes hundreds of boxes of food throughout the year. Last year, an estimated 40,000 men, women and children in Hawaii received food, clothing or toys during the holiday season.
"Without the help of the schools and students, the Salvation Army would be hard-pressed to meet the increase in requests for assistance," said Hawaii division commander Maj. Don R. Mowrey. Besides the schools' food drives, the Salvation Army next week will launch its traditional cash contribution campaign by bell-ringers with red kettles at malls and markets.
When the needy knock on a door, it is likely to be at a grass-roots good Samaritan business such as Kaumakapili Church. Caroline Malani, chairwoman of the Palama church's free store, has been putting aside donated toys for months to give at Christmas. The store opens twice a week with clothing, household goods -- whatever's been given -- available for the taking. She takes food monthly to 12 Hawaiian families in Waianae.Besides its own congregation's donations, Kaumakapili will distribute 25 baskets donated by Central Union Church. "We get clothing from River of Life Mission -- they share their abundance -- and from the Clearinghouse. We welcome everything."
Mickey Reich, who heads the food pantry at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, said the last week of this month and next may be a time of feasting for some, but it is also the time when a person living in poverty has run out of food stamps and faces hunger.
The downtown pantry mostly helps single people who live in rooms without cooking or storage capability, distributing an average of 100 bags of groceries per month. At the holiday season, Reich tries to tuck in some extras such as T-shirts, toiletries and sweet treats. She will hand out grocery certificates in small amounts rather than the full turkey dinner vouchers.
"Two guys told me they are going to pool their $5 certificates and have something really nice to eat."
Hundreds of people will work Thanksgiving Day to put the traditional turkey dinner on the table, not for themselves but for folks who can't afford a feast and, in many cases, don't even have a table. Making, and sharing,
a Thanksgiving dinnerThe Salvation Army has enlisted hordes of volunteers for its 27th annual Thanksgiving event at Neal Blaisdell Center, which is expected to feed 2,300 people.
River of Life Mission at 101 N. Pauahi St. expects 500 people at two sittings of a dinner that will be prepared and served by church groups and other volunteers.
Navy personnel and their families will dish out pumpkin pie and all that precedes it in Operation Aloha from 10 a.m. to noon at the Waialua Community Center. Last year 550 people were fed and entertained, and the center expects to exceed that this year, said a spokesman of the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific at Whitmore Village.
Navy and North Shore volunteers will make some special dinner deliveries elsewhere in the area, said Operation Specialist 2nd Class Maurice Messina. This is the ninth year that the communications unit, which also has members in Lualualei and Barbers Point, has celebrated Thanksgiving in this way. The unit set up collection bins outside military commissaries and expects to send the makings of future meals home with the guests after Thursday dinner. Jeep Aloha Bowl Charities helps underwrite Operation Aloha, Messina said.
"Over the past year there has been a notable increase in the number of people who are unable to afford adequate food," said River of Life Executive Director Jack Stankus, who will mark the 10th anniversary of the mission on Thanksgiving. Dinner will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
He expects the Chinatown Christian-oriented mission to serve nearly 10,000 hot meals during November, about 4,000 more than the monthly average.
Dinner at Neal Blaisdell Center will be at noon, but the doors will open at 9 a.m. for the hours of entertainment that precede it. Tickets are being distributed at Salvation Army facilities and will be available at the door for the hungry, disadvantaged, elderly and lonely.
But before the doors open:
Some 54 turkeys -- 800 pounds -- will be cooked at several hotels and restaurants around town. Someone figured out that 550 pounds of stuffing, 35 gallons of gravy and 300 pounds of rice are in the making, too.
