When En Young, executive director of The Food Basket, thinks about the potential impacts of lava crossing Highway 130, one particular challenge occupies much of his time.
“The thing that scares us the most is that we’re gonna be forgotten about in Puna,” he said Wednesday. “The immediate effects of the lava — destroying sheds and things like that, people can see that. They can feel it and relate to those kinds of things. But our fear is that if the lava does cross (Highway) 130 and cuts off access to Railroad and Beach roads, as well, there’s going to be a huge supply chain issue on that side.”
Young explained such a supply chain problem could persist for years, even once an alternate route along Chain of Craters Road is available to the public.
“It’s going to be an ongoing problem. Especially if the lava stays hot and doesn’t give us a cool spot to drive over, we may be looking at years and years of ongoing, protracted challenges without relief,” he said.
Providing food to Puna residents cut off by the lava flow will be a difficult task requiring plenty of manpower and specialized equipment.
That’s where The Food Basket can lend a hand, he said.
With a number of supply connections well established in the area and two box trucks and a cargo van capable of delivering foods needing refrigeration, the nonprofit food bank is well situated to provide an important food security link for people behind the flow.
“Part of our mission is to definitely create and maintain accessibility to food,” Young said. “In this situation, that is the issue though, it’s going to be access. … There will be gaps, and one of those gaps will definitely be for those whom transporation already is an issue.”
Providing food for economically disadvantaged isle residents has always been a challenge because of the Big Isle’s widely dispersed population in hard to reach areas, and that problem will be exacerbated to a great degree when and if the lava bisects the highway.
One plan The Food Basket discussed with Hawaii County Civil Defense is to set up a warehouse or trailer filled with nonperishable canned goods, to be set in place ahead of time and ready to go when it’s needed.
Additionally, commercial vendors could set up shop behind the flow and sell canned goods from the backs of vehicles like little mobile grocery stores, making stops on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
Meanwhile, The Food Basket’s specialized refrigerated trucks could provide fresh vegetables, meats and more, while also providing much-needed points of sale, using wireless credit card and EBT card systems.
“Not everybody on the island has that,” Young said. “We’re equipped to not only deliver produce that needs to be refrigered, but also we’re equipped as a mobile point of service.”
As he explained, because of the possible amount of time Puna could be cut off, just feeding people won’t be enough.
“Not only do they need to eat, they need to eat well. They can’t be eating emergency food for years on end,” Young said.
While The Food Basket can help play an important role in the coming weeks, months or even years as Puna wrestles with the flow, it won’t be able to handle the increase in demand alone. Already, the nonprofit food bank has been stressed by Tropical Storm Iselle.
Following the damage wrought by Iselle, media sources loudly trumpeted the need for water and ice, but lost in the din of that call for public assistance was a reminder that there was a continued need for everyday items that are always in demand.
As a result, Young said, “our stock was worn down. The question isn’t just ‘Are your shelves full?’ but ‘What are they full of?’
“Right now, our protein stock is way down, our rice stock is basically zero. We still have some ready-made meals and those kinds of assorted items. But fruit and vegetable canned stock is down to zero as well. It’s been slowly wearing us down.”
Ongoing support from the public, as well as the county, state and federal governments will be important as providers such as The Food Basket continue to try to offer their services to Puna-area residents, he said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
