The Food Basket

In 2023, The Food Basket continued its emergency Food response with programs designed to meet The needs of our residents affected by The escalating cost of Food, while also providing dignified Food access regardless of geography. Our kupuna pantry program (also known as The commodity supplemental Food program) served 1,361 income qualifying seniors island wide. We also served nearly 8,000 children in elementary schools with 100% free and reduced lunch rates through our "we got your back" keik backpack program and began six new school pantry programs. Through these pantries, we were also able to serve nearly 14,000 family members. In keeping with The Food Basket's policy of supporting our local economy, we purchased 600,248 of Food for our emergency Food program from producers and businesses on hawai'Hawaii'i island to supplement The federally subsidized Food shipments we received. Cumulatively, The Food Basket distributed nearly 3 million pounds of Food to residents across The 4,028 square miles of hawai'Hawaii'i island. To help combat The heart-wrenching impacts caused by The 2023 maui wildfire disaster, The Food Basket hosted The pilina fund, raising a total of 94,009 to help defray The cost of deliveries of Food and supplies flown in small planes by independent pilots out of kona to The hard-hit communities of lahaina and ka'anapali, that were isolated and difficult to reach in The aftermath of The fires.

Da bux double up Food bucks program continued operations across The state and at The end of 2023, was available at over 100 retail sites. The program issued over 2,451,217 million in Food nutrition incentives statewide on hawai'Hawaii'i grown fruits and vegetables. Da bux program also published their fourth child-based nutrition education book in 'olelo hawai'Hawaii'i (Hawaiian) as part of The kai & hoku explore foods of hawai'Hawaii'i series, to help families and educators explore local fruits and vegetables with children and to address The trend of high percentages of obesity and chronic diet related diseases among hawai'i's socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

In 2023, The Food Basket selectively cleared our 24.5 acres of land in hilo as we moved forward with The development of The agriculture innovation park and Food systems campus to meet The challenges of multiple recent disasters including lava flows, hurricanes, and The pandemic. The name of "ho'olako" (in Hawaiian, meaning 'The place that provides') was gifted as a name for The campus by our community's elders in a cultural ceremony on The property. Ho'olako is envisioned as a community gathering place grounded in a shared belief that our community deserves safe, nutritious, fair, and affordable Food. The campus will include agriculture crops, a community Food center and Food bank, a state-of-the-art Food innovation center and provide opportunities for: Food processing and distribution; farm and business incubation; agriculture training and production; cultural and educational programs.