KAILUA-KONA — At next Tuesday’s Feed the Children event in Honalo, a mouthwatering, locally grown Christmas dinner menu is on tap to give sustenance to the body. The event will also bring another kind of nourishment to homeless and food-insecure children and their families — that of art and music.
The third annual Feed the Children event from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission will also feature taiko drumming, magicians, talk story with Santa, a table where folks can make gifts for their ohana, and more. A blessing banner exhibit will be on display, with 108 prayer flags painted by more than 400 children from schools around the island.
There will be 250 free dinners, and another 500 meals will be packed into gift baskets along with school supplies for another 100 families.
Marya Mann of Kealakekua said she has again chosen the mauka region south of Kailua-Kona for the dinner because of higher poverty rates stretching down into South Kona and beyond.
In the past, volunteers have driven extra meals downtown and handed them out to the homeless from the back of pickup trucks.
While the traditional holiday meal trends toward a main meat dish, mash potatoes, gravy and pie, chef Stephen Rouelle of Under the Bhodhi Tree will be presenting his own twist. Guests should bring their appetites, because here’s just some of the lineup to be served: kale quinoa and macadamia nut salad with lemon garlic dressing, green bean Hamakua mushroom casserole, orange and cinnamon-glazed kabocha pumpkin, island fruit platter, and pineapple and spice cobbler.
“Some of us are meat-eaters, but we decided this year to offer a menu free of meat to give people a chance to taste how delicious, healthy and nutritious plant-based eating can be,” said Mann, an artist, author and wellness consultant who is spearheading the dinner.
The concept of tying the battle against hunger to the expression of art grew out of Mann’s teaching of yoga and dance at a Project Hawaii summer camp for homeless and disadvantaged kids in Honokaa in 2012.
“There was no holiday program for keiki in West Hawaii at the time, so we started Feed the Children in 2013 to serve meals at Christmas when kids had no school lunches,” said Mann, who sometimes freelance writes for West Hawaii Today. “The combination of good food and good art is the centerpiece of our program.”
Dinner events of this scale are a massive logistical undertaking backed by a lot of people working behind the scenes to make sure it all happens. There is still a need for volunteers to help with serving, gift bag assembly, donation box collection, Santa’s helpers, driving and cleanup. Donations are also needed of non-perishable food, personal hygiene items, gifts for keiki, educational toys, skill-building tools and contributions, Mann said. They can be dropped off the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook.
Info: 808-328-0171, www.gofundme.com/cr3wt9fs
