Honokaa meal program to serve 100,000th meal, aids hundreds weekly

A Hamakua meal program that has become a weekly safety net for Honokaa and nearby communities will serve its 100,000th meal on Friday, May 15, a milestone that reflects more than community spirit. It shows how rising food costs, long drives, and limited access to kitchens have made a volunteer kitchen part of the local food system.

Feeding Our Keiki and Kupuna now serves more than 500 meals a week and provides about two tons of groceries to more than 225 households through drive-thru, delivery and walk-up service. Over seven years, the program has delivered more than 1 million pounds of groceries, reaching kūpuna, homebound residents and families that need special groceries because they do not have kitchen access.

The operation began in 2017 as a Hamakua Youth Center cultural education cooking class for keiki, then expanded in 2019 into the food-share network now run through the Honokaa Hongwanji Peace Committee. More than 50 volunteers show up each week, from teenagers to older residents, helping turn the temple parking lot into a steady distribution point for the north side of Hawaii Island.

Committee chairman Miles Okumura said the strength of the program has come from volunteers who keep stepping up and deciding how best to support the community. Executive chefs Sandy Barr Rivera and James McKenzie, along with Ravi Singh and other kitchen volunteers, have helped keep the meals consistent as demand has grown.

The need is reinforced by wider food-security data. Hawaii Foodbank’s 2024-2025 analysis found food insecurity remains widespread across the state, and a later summary said more than 40% of households on Hawaii Island and in Maui County were food insecure. In rural Hamakua, where families can face higher transportation costs and fewer services, that kind of pressure lands directly on weekly grocery budgets, especially for fixed-income kūpuna.

Honokaa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple says meals can be picked up every Friday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the temple parking lot, and a $5 donation in the name of the Peace Committee helps buy dinner for an entire family. AARP Hawaii said Okumura and Lynn Higashi launched the program after noticing children going hungry in their community, then expanded it to include shut-ins and older adults. The group was recognized with AARP Hawaii’s 2024 Andrus Award for Community Service, a sign that Honokaa’s model has become a durable answer to a very current problem.