Food insecurity affects nearly 1 in 3 keiki in Hawaiʻi, impacting their overall health, well-being and development. Well-nourished, food-secure children exhibit higher rates of cognitive activity, improved school attendance and enhanced academic achievements. Providing growing minds and bodies with well-balanced nutrition naturally leads to higher education levels, increased qualifications, expanded capacities and greater potential for learning.

Getting enough food is an important first step to ensuring keiki can achieve their goals. At Hawaiʻi Foodbank, our Food 4 Keiki programs are working to make this a reality.

Kūpuna are vital pillars of our communities — bringing wisdom, experience and essential support to the movement to end hunger. Yet, many seniors face barriers to accessing the food they need to maintain healthy and dignified lives. These problems can be related to their health, finances and where they live.

At Hawaiʻi Foodbank, we are committed to ensuring kūpuna can continue to thrive by offering senior-focused outreach and food programs that work to improve food security.

The Farm to Families program is one of Hawaiʻi Foodbank’s signature programs. Through Farm to Families, the Foodbank supports local food systems while also providing fresh, healthy, Hawaiʻi-grown food to those in the community facing hunger. Every dollar in the Farm to Families program does double duty — investing in local agriculture while also providing fresh, local produce and proteins to those facing hunger. This, in turn, provides a myriad of additional benefits: supporting local farmers, helping to buoy the local economy and food system, decreasing dependence on imported food, and more.

Hawaiʻi Foodbank is a proactive leader in disaster preparedness and response. We are investing in our own capacity with a focus on preparedness across our organization and hunger relief network, as well as strengthening our partnerships with government agencies and first responders. We also work with our affiliate food banks to strengthen our network across Hawaiʻi the United States. We believe that these accumulative efforts to work collaboratively and invest in one another will best strengthen food security across the entire state — during blue skies and gray.