In this world of haves and have nots, food is a universal must-have — but that doesn’t mean it’s readily available for all. Those who are homeless or living in poverty struggle daily to make ends meet, and sustenance and nutrition cannot be taken for granted.
So it was heartwarming, indeed, to read about the compassion and common sense of five University of Hawaii-Manoa students who recently formed the state’s first chapter of the national Food Recovery Network, an effort that takes the concept of meal leftovers into the homeless arena, literally.
Every Friday, the UHM Food Recovery Network collects and wraps up hundreds of pounds of unsold food from UH’s food outlets, and delivers the largesse to the Institute for Human Services’ homeless clients. Since the effort began in December, over 1,300 pounds of perfectly good food have benefitted the needy; the leftover food previously had gone to feed pigs.
Kudos to UH students Heather Fucini, Joy Nagahiro-Twu, Mariah Martino, Victoria Duplechain and Chrisann Hinson for launching this initiative against hunger. Though hunger in Hawaii is far less visible than the housing crisis, food insecurity affects 1 of 8 residents, according to the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice.
For those living on the streets or on the brink, that means making tough choices between food or other necessities, such as paying for rent, electricity or medical care.
Children are especially vulnerable, and can suffer lasting effects — physically and mentally — from poverty and food insecurity. Research shows that poverty impedes the ability to learn and contributes to social, emotional and behavioral problems.
The dire need for help cannot be overstated, when realizing that a significant portion of today’s future adults are struggling to survive under tough circumstances: In Hawaii, over 14 percent of kids under age 18 live in families with income below the federal poverty line.
“With the homeless situation in Hawaii,” noted Fucini of the UHM network, “we can redirect our resources and take some strain off of the shelters and off of government by redistributing our surplus food, which would be thrown away anyway. Hawaii has the No. 1 homeless per capita population and a lot of them are children.”
When it comes to food, the “haves” are wasteful consumers: It’s estimated that 30-40 percent of food fit for consumption is discarded. In launching the UHM Food Recovery Network, its members realized the waste in their midst and the serious need in the community.
Let’s hope that others do, too: the network is seeking campus volunteers to join their worthy cause, particularly younger students to carry on the effort after the founders graduate (email uhmfrn@@gmail.com). This selfless, good idea deserves to spread and take hold at other UH campuses as well.
UHM Food Recovery Network is just the latest of a number of community contributors doing good work to help feed people.
Aloha Harvest “rescues” and distributes perishable and nonperishable food that otherwise would be thrown away and wasted; it has distributed more than 16 million pounds of food over 16 years.
Feeding Hawaii Together, a “grocery-style” food-distribution program, in 2015 met the needs of 76,750 adults, 12,698 children and 53,038 households with 3.2 million pounds of food.
And of course, the Hawaii Food Bank collects non-perishable foods for distribution to those in need; its 27th annual Food Drive Day runs today from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at various sites around town (www.hawaiifoodbank.org).
The problem of homelessness has been a tough one to tackle, with citizens largely at a loss on how to be part of the solution. Not so with the community problem of hunger: citizens can engage by donating food, or as in the case of the UHM Food Recovery Network, by dishing out the solution, one big pan of food at a time.
