The Food Basket continues to struggle with supply chain issues, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rising cost of living, all of which have contributed to a major shortage of food that Executive Director Kristin Frost Albrecht calls “unprecedented.”
“We’ve never seen this,” Frost Albrecht said of the Hawaii Island food bank’s empty shelves. “At the height of the pandemic, we were getting over half a million pounds of food in a month. And last month, we got about 8,000 pounds. In August, we aren’t going to receive anything.”
No federal food shipments for an entire month is something Frost Albrecht has never experienced in her eight years with the organization.
“Most of us rely on the government shipments of The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which are large government lots of food they are able to procure,” she said.
With nothing expected from TEFAP in August because of supply chain problems, The Food Basket plans to rely solely on local producers.
“We’ll make it up by trying to procure our protein and produce locally, which really helped us out during the pandemic,” she said. “We’re scrambling to figure out funding so that we can purchase enough food to serve everybody who needs help.”
On top of limited shipments, demand has significantly increased following the pandemic.
“We’ve never gone back down to prepandemic numbers, because people are still coming back from the economic downturn,” she said. “We are slammed every day with walk-ins at both our Hilo and Kona sites.”
Prepandemic, The Food Basket was serving an average of 14,000 individuals per month. During the pandemic, the number skyrocketed to 80,000-plus. Frost Albrecht said the number has gone down to roughly 50,000 individuals per month, but remains steady, requiring The Food Basket to purchase more food in the last year than in the organization’s 33-year history.
“We’re hearing the same things from all the partner agencies,” she said. “The pantries and soup kitchens, there’s just very high demand right now.”
A recent report from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, which surveyed a statewide cohort of 2,000 people, found 8.9% of respondents had low food security and an additional 11.4% reported very low food security following the pandemic.
“I think if we can just keep growing our agricultural sector, we will eventually have food security here,” Frost Albrecht said. “Times like these really point out how important it is to support our local agriculture and local producers as best we can.”
The Food Basket is taking part in the initiative, announcing last month plans to develop an agricultural innovation park in Hilo.
The organization purchased 24.5 acres off Ponahawai Street in Hilo from Suisan, where it plans to build a four-component complex featuring a community food center, a packing and processing center, and agricultural land for both row and incubator crops.
Until then, The Food Basket is relying on donations and community support to keep operating, and is accepting food and monetary donations at both its Hilo and Kona locations.
“We have a really amazing donor base, and we live in a place where people really care for one another,” she said. “But a lot of this is going to depend on what happens at the federal level.”
Frost Albrecht is hoping for an announcement soon about additional federal support and funding.
“This has me a little nervous, to tell you the truth,” she said. “I don’t know what the future holds.”
Amid the shortage, The Food Basket continues to host Ohana Food Drops for the community, with the next taking place at 10 a.m. on June 28 in Naalehu at the Hongwanji Mission.
Additional information related to donations and future food drops can be found at www.hawaiifoodbasket.org.
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com