With the holidays approaching, Hawaii food banks are still scrambling to meet the needs of families as household budgets take a hit from inflation.

“We’re continuing to see the need tick up,” said Amy Marvin, president and CEO of Hawaii Foodbank. “Our retail donations are still down compared to what they were last year. Donations are down, generally.”

The food bank is grateful, however, to be getting help from community drives such as last week’s “Turkey Tailgate” at Murphy’s Bar & Grill in Downtown Honolulu. The 11th annual tailgate resumed in person after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.

By the end of the evening, more than three dozen turkeys were donated to Hawaii Foodbank and passed on to the Institute for Human Services to be distributed to families before Thanksgiving.

In addition, the community donated more than $4,000 online to the food bank as part of the event, with Don and Marion Murphy matching the first $1,000. The total was enough to provide more than 11,000 meals, the food bank said.

As an example of the growing need, the Hawaii Foodbank’s weekly food distribution event at Central Union Church in Honolulu has experienced about a 10% increase in demand, Marvin said.

The agency generally provides food for about 600 families, enough to cover the weekly average of 582 who have shown up over the past few months. Last week, however, 642 families sought assistance.

The need is great among kupuna and working families, according to Marvin, and there have been more individuals finding themselves in food distribution lines for the first time.

The Hawaii Foodbank wants to help families celebrate Thanksgiving, as well. A recent donation of 63 cases of turkeys from C&S Wholesale was distributed to more than 250 families.

The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division is pitching in, too. After a two-year pause, hundreds of volunteers will once again serve free turkey meals with all the fixings to about 2,000 guests in person at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall on Thursday.

Inflation all around

A Thanksgiving meal this year will cost more overall than in past years due to inflation, and both families and the nonprofits that serve them are getting pounded by higher costs of gas, food and electricity.

Marvin said many families are still struggling to get out of a financial crisis and that this is a years-long process.

“A lot of people during the pandemic were able to delay payment on rent and utilities, and that’s not gone away,” she said. “These are still debts people undertook, or maybe they put their grocery bill on their credit card. We anticipate it will probably take years for families to recover.”

After the previous recession in 2008, she pointed out, it took a full decade for food security levels to return to where they were before.

As for the Hawaii Foodbank, supply chain issues over the summer have been resolved, but there is still a combination of challenges: waning support from the federal government, growing costs all around and increasing need.

Over the summer, the Hawaii Foodbank received only about 25% of its federal supply of food from The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That was better than the few months when it received no supply at all from TEFAP, but it was still a big dip to compensate. The nonprofit made up the balance by purchasing food from mainland suppliers and working with local farmers.

One of Hawaii Foodbank’s goals is to provide healthy choices, including fresh produce, which is more expensive.

Marvin said she is encouraged to hear more funds have been allotted for next year, but still expects to have to compensate for the greater need. On average, the agency distributes about 360,000 pounds of food a week.

Need is greater

Alicia Higa, director of health promotion and community wellness at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, said demand at its weekly food pantries for keiki and kupuna is still high.

“We’re actually seeing the need is greater now than during the height of the pandemic,” she said.

About 750 kupuna and 1,800 keiki line up at food pantries along the coast every week, according to Higa. Providing healthful food such as fresh produce and poi is part of providing positive health incomes, she said.

The budget for kupuna pantries is due to run out by March because it is based on lower projections of serving 500 to 550 individuals.

Higa is still seeing people struggling with the “benefits cliff” in which a small bump up in Social Security payments or wages is resulting in disqualification from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. For kupuna, rent increases have also stretched budgets.

WCCHC would have liked to have offered a Thanksgiving food distribution event but did not have funds to do it. An event for Dec. 18 was budgeted far in advance and is expected to fill up quickly.

SNAP benefits extended

Gov. David Ige on Friday signed a fifth emergency proclamation extending SNAP emergency allotment benefits in Hawaii through the holidays to Jan. 16. Ige has extended the benefits numerous times since the first proclamation was declared in March 2020.

Families continue to suffer from food insecurity, the proclamation noted, “due to the effects of the pandemic coupled with the continued increase in the cost of daily living — including groceries, child care, transportation and utility costs as record inflation rates climb along with unprecedented gas prices.”

Marvin said the Hawaii Foodbank itself is also dealing with inflation, resulting in higher operation costs.

The nonprofit’s fuel costs increased from about $6,000 in October 2021 to $10,000 a year later.

Costs of food purchases have also gone up, with chicken up 108%, for instance, from a year ago.

“Our budget is going to be stretched a lot further because fuel and food costs have gone up,” Marvin said. “We’re aiming to make up the difference with TEFAP and retail donations. We’re in this constant recalculation every month of how we are going to continue to meet the needs in the community.”

Marvin said monetary donations are welcome because the Hawaii Foodbank can stretch those dollars via its wholesale channels and other partnerships. Every dollar donated can provide more than two meals.

Phil Acosta, executive director of Aloha Harvest, which focuses on food rescue and redistribution, said the nonprofit has been fielding more requests from various organizations for donations.

“During the height of the pandemic there was a lot of funding,” he said. “A lot of that has dried up.”

As the economy reopens, Aloha Harvest has partnered with hotel operators to redistribute excess food and was able to secure some from last month’s Hawaii Food & Wine Festival event at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

Fortunately, Acosta said, there is a bump up in donations during the holiday season, when people are feeling generous. But that is temporary, and Aloha Harvest will have to get creative to meet increased demands heading into new year.

Looking ahead, nonprofits are bracing for food needs to continue growing in 2023, should emergency SNAP benefits and other government assistance come to an end, and with continued economic uncertainty on the horizon.

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Help with hunger

Since the onset of the pandemic, food insecurity in Hawaii has grown by more than 50%, according to the Hawaii Foodbank. Nearly 250,000 Hawaii residents are in need of food assistance, while 1 in 4 keiki struggle with hunger.

The Hawaii Foodbank’s annual “Check-Out Hunger” program runs through Jan. 20, asking consumers to add a $5, $10 or $20 donation at checkout at Times Supermarkets, Big Save Markets, Don Quijote, Marukai Wholesale Mart, Shima’s Market, Tamura’s and other participating stores. Contributions remain on the island where they were collected.

Visit hawaiifoodbank.org.