Because of the anticipated need for food in rural Ka‘u, The Food basket has changed the venue for its Ocean View Ohana Drop on Tuesday.
“We had to change the drop location from the Ocean View Community Center to the Kahuku Park mauka parking lot because we anticipate more people coming than we could accommodate at the center,” said Marshall Akamu, West and North Hawaii operations manager.
The drive-up, no-contact food drop will be held from 10 a.m. to noon. The Food Basket expects about 200 families will come through to receive an array of food, including fresh produce.
“We’re really running down our food supply. We did place a big order from our distributors, but who knows when that will come in,” said Akamu. He credited KTA Super Stores for stepping up and ordering food for them through their distributors.
Based on the turnout at four previous events in Naalehu, Keaau, Hilo and Waimea, Akamu said they are expecting their biggest crowd yet on April 17 at Old Kona Airport Park in Kailua-Kona.
“We had over 200 families show up in Naalehu. We ran out of food. Same thing in Waimea, over 200 families,” he said, adding that equated to over 32,000 pounds of food. “Old A, we’re expecting 400 families.”
Akamu said they usually take eight pallets of food to an Ohana Drop, but will be taking triple that next Friday.
“That’s a lot of food. For Kailua-Kona we estimate 24 pallets,” he said. “We as a community, we have got to kokua everybody because we are part of the community and we are doing this as a free service.”
In the first five drops done by The Food Basket, an estimated 275,000 pounds of food was distributed, according to Executive Director Kristin Frost Albrecht. More than 5,000 residents have been served.
Upcoming schedules for Ohana Drops, as well as information on other programs offered by The Food Basket, can be found online at www.hawaiifoodbasket.org.