Meet N’ Eat, a program that provides free hot meals and food baskets for community members, celebrated its 30th anniversary Tuesday serving up hundreds of meals as the volunteer-driven effort nears 300,000 meals served.
Taking place at Kealakehe Intermediate School, the grab and go food service handed out a whopping 500 meals Tuesday night, featuring a hot dinner from Cheers Tapas Bar.
On the menu? Teriyaki chicken, chicken long rice, pork and white rice, and groceries for the week.
The food distributed to those in need comes from local restaurants and groceries stores pitching in. Among them: Cheers Tapas, Lava Java, Kukio Resort, Cal-Kona produce, KTA Super Stores, The Food Basket and the University of the Nations.
“The line usually gets as far as you can see,” said Scott Unger, head of the Rotary Club of Kona, the nonprofit organization that spearheads Meet N’ Eat.
“We try to crank it out in a half hour, but tonight we’ll probably stay longer,” he said. “If we got a ton of food we’ll probably keep going. We take all the extra food to Salvation Army. We pretty much give everything away every time.”
With around 20 volunteers total, five people were in charge of prepping the food, and another dozen or so distributing.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary, Meet N’ Eat upped their meals from 300 a night to 500.
“We haven’t let this die,” explained Unger. “The need for meals has quadrupled since COVID-19.”
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, meals are prepared for pick up by people in cars rather than in the cafeteria as had been the case for the decades the program has been taking place. While people no longer get to take part in the camaraderie of meeting and eating together, the drive-through operation has increased the number of people who can be served.
“This works better for us and for others. Getting more of a turnout this way,” said Unger. “The need is there. People come through here and appreciate it.”
However, the challenge of securing long-term volunteers, as well as the logistics of pulling of the weekly Meet N’ Eat, continue.
“We’ve been doing this for 30 years and it isn’t easy. But people have a good sense of helping out. So we can pour more groups into this. But we’ve had a hard time getting volunteers to stick. The challenges are logistics. And going out to get all the food, and organize it all,” Unger said. “But we’re probably the longest running food security organization on the Big Island. I don’t know anyone else doing it this long.”
Since its’ inception, Meet N’ Eat has served over 290,000 meals — not including bags of groceries and goodies.
Meet N’ Eat also partners with the Salvation Army, The Lions Club, Elks club and a group of female paddlers, who each serve a meal each week. The program also puts on a special Thanksgiving meal each year.
Ardie Ikeda had ran the program for 26 years after the program’s founding in 1992 by the Kona Task Force on Feeding the Hungry. During his tenure, a quarter-million meals were served, and though he retired in 2018, still remains the unofficial head of the program.
According to Unger, the only time Meet N’ Eat won’t serve a meal, is if there’s a hurricane.
“We’ll be here,” he said.
Meet N’ Eat is held every Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Kealakehe Intermediate School off Onipaa Street in Kailua-Kona with walk-up and drive-through service. Those looking to volunteer, donate money or contribute items should contact Scott Unger via email at scottaliigas@gmail.com.