Hawaii Island’s food bank gathered with partner agency volunteers June 15 for a food drop at the Pahoa Senior Center. ADVERTISING Hawaii Island’s food bank gathered with partner agency volunteers June 15 for a food drop at the Pahoa Senior
Hawaii Island’s food bank gathered with partner agency volunteers June 15 for a food drop at the Pahoa Senior Center.
The hourlong event, providing items ranging from yogurt to cereal and canned protein, was in coordination with Dr. Clifford Kopp’s “Walk the Talk” trek around the island to promote awareness of unsheltered homelessness on Hawaii Island.
Kopp, a dentist who resides in Kailua-Kona, is on his fourth walk since Christmas Eve 2015 in an effort to bring a voice to those who are homeless and unsheltered. He will walk 300 miles during a 10-day period, and included a spiritual walk to the Pololu Valley Lookout Point.
“I decided to walk around Hawaii Island to raise awareness,” Kopp explains. “My walks are what they are, mainly physical pain and mental duress, yet without suffering the way a homeless individual or family does. The homeless, not all, but most, suffer.
“We have a wonderful island ohana that helps as best we can as individuals, as churches, and as nonprofits such as the Food Basket. But we require well-designed and located facilities with beds, toilets, showers, social services, etc. This is where my plan for facilities, and therefore my walk, have stemmed from.”
In total, more than 120 community members were served through the community outreach with great effort from the Food Basket’s partner agencies, the Bodacious Ladies and the Pahoa Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen.
“It’s always a rewarding thing to be able to go out into the community and serve the people. That is the basis of The Food Basket,” said Jo Ann Abiley, the Food Basket Hilo warehouse floor supervisor. “To coordinate the event with Dr. Kopp’s walk around the island, tying in homelessness and the hungry, was good for our community.”
In addition to outreach events by the Food Basket, the organization works with nearly 100 partnering agencies that serve the communities around the island on a daily basis.
“Without our agencies, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and fulfill our mission,” Abiley said.
A list of East and West Hawaii food pantries through the Food Basket partnering agencies can be found at www.hawaiifoodbasket.org/resources.
