More than 500 people waited in line at the Honokaa Sports Complex on Friday morning to pick up food from an Ohana Food Drop.
The Food Basket has been providing free food islandwide for months with the food drops since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Honokaa continues to be a high-demand location for free food, according to Leelen Park, COVID-19 emergency response project manager for The Food Basket.
“There is a lot more people here today than last month,” Park said. “The sheer volume this morning was crazy.”
Suisan provided 720 boxes of protein packs, and Park and his team brought 420 boxes of dry produce, which ran out after an hour.
“This is a disaster,” Honokaa resident Annie Olival said. “They are going to run out of food before everyone can get through the line.”
Olival was sitting by the Ohana Food Drop waiting for her daughter to drive by, so she could give her some cookies.
“This has been really hard on her,” Olival said of her daughter. “She has to come to the food drops, because she isn’t working and has children to feed.”
Many residents along the Hamakua Coast work in the hospitality industry, which continues to be hit hard by the pandemic.
In July, the hospitality sector employed about 60,800 people, down from more than 126,000 in July 2019, according to state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
“I was working as a waitress at the Hilton before the pandemic hit,” Waimea resident Lacy Lively said. “Now, I’m in this forced unemployment and everything seems to be getting worse.”
Lively heard about the food drop from her mother and waited in line for about an hour with her nephew in tow.
“My sister is not doing too well, so I’ve been watching my nephew, which is another mouth to feed,” Lively said. “So I’m more than grateful for these food drops, because they are helpful.”
While waiting in line with the breeze blowing through her open windows, Lively spent the morning working through her grief over a coworker who passed away recently.
“He was this sweet, older man working at the hotel, and I had not been able to see him since we were laid off,” Lively said. “It hurts me to think that he may have died alone.”
Lively has three teenage children and is worried that they may not be able to recover from the pandemic.
“I have worked so hard to be where I am, and now I feel like I’m back to where I started,” Lively said.
Although Honokaa resident Gary Jean has been working during the pandemic, the Ohana Food Drop has helped him provide more for his four children.
“I took the day off work to make sure I was here,” Jean said. “The food drops have really helped us financially, and it’s nice that they are close by.”
Jean and his wife have an added worry since their children have started virtual school from home. While they both work, the couple has to make sure their kids are attending and paying attention to their classes every day.
“It’s going better than I thought it would, honestly,” Jean said. “But there are many times we need to discipline them and make sure they are doing their work.”
Children have been a large part of the high turnout at the Ohana Food Drops.
Families are able to pick up various types of food to provide for their household for a few days.
Joann Lawrence and her family have been coming to the food drops every time Food Basket comes to Honokaa.
“My husband and I have both lost our jobs during the pandemic,” Lawrence said. “There is not much we can do, but this helps us provide for our family.”
The Food Basket will continue to offer healthy, diverse food to communities in Hawaii throughout September.
Location and dates of the Ohana Food Drops can be found at https://www.hawaiifoodbasket.org/.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com
