KAILUA-KONA — When Bite Me Sportfishing marketing and sales manager Stephanie Smith started thinking about how she can help those displaced by the ongoing eruption, she knew there was one thing available.
“I have access to fish,” she said. “I have access to help these people out. And to feed them is love; that’s a lot of aloha.”
At the beginning of this week, she developed her plan to get fresh, healthy fish out of the water and onto the plates of those in need. The sportfishing company’s customers, she said, would be able to take whatever of the catch they wanted. The rest, she said, Bite Me would donate to those displaced by the eruption and lava flows.
“And all of my captains and crew were completely down with it,” she said.
The company’s effort culminated on Friday, when Bite Me employees loaded three coolers with hundreds of pounds of fish — cut, cleaned and ready to go — into a West Hawaii Today delivery van bound for the island’s east side, where they planned to donate the fish to The Food Basket.
Smith said given their access to fish, it only made sense to do what they could to help out.
“It’s important because we have it,” she said. “I have these resources, and so it’s important to use your resources. When something like this happens to the island and people, it’s important to start pulling together what you can do for everybody.”
Over the course of the past week, the company collected a total of 400 pounds of fish, including about 100 pounds of tuna donated by “Melee” Capt. Bryan Toney.
Getting ready to load the coolers into the van, Richard Graff, Big Island circulation manager at West Hawaii Today, said he was happy to take part in the effort.
“It’s all about having resources,” he said. “I thank Bite Me a lot because they’re doing all the heavy lifting really, to donate the week’s worth of fish … and just the fact that we have a good-enough sized van that we can help out so we can make sure it all gets done — it’s just awesome that we can all come together and help out, because they’re going through a rough time in Puna.”
Even the coolers used to carry the fish demonstrated how people were coming together to support Bite Me’s efforts, Smith noted.
Smith said after a store associate posted on Facebook looking for extra coolers to help transport the fish, California resident Paul Nadell showed up with a donation of two new coolers.
“And he’s not even from here, he’s from off island,” Smith said. “He’s a visitor, so it was pretty cool how that came together.”
JoAnn Abiley, who manages The Food Basket’s operations for Hilo, said she was thrilled when Smith called her earlier this week about her plan.
“I was very excited,” she said, “very, very excited and grateful.”
Abiley said once the fish arrived in Hilo, it would head to Hawaii Community College, which is working with the Salvation Army to provide three meals a day at area shelters. Abiley said the meals are prepared by students of the college’s culinary program and brought to the shelters for mealtime. In total, Abiley said, breakfast, lunch and dinner is being prepared daily for about 300 people.
A healthy, hot meal can mean a lot for those who have been displaced, Abiley noted, saying it can provide a great deal of comfort for people to have a meal and also know there are others in the community looking out for them.
“I’m really excited, really grateful,” she said of the donation. “It couldn’t come at a better time.”
And for Bite Me, Smith said stepping up to help the community is part of what they do.
“Any time we have the opportunity to help anybody in need, we do,” she said. “That’s the Bite Me way.”
Abiley said The Food Basket is currently collecting camping supplies, including sleeping bags, tents and tarps. Yoga mats, she added, have also been a big request.
West Hawaii residents interested in donating can drop off supplies at The Food Basket’s location on Ulu Wini Place off Hina Lani Street.
