Kauai Independent Food Bank plans first golf tournament in July

The Kauai Independent Food Bank is taking its fundraising to Puakea Golf Course, where a first-ever four-person scramble on July 11 will raise money for food support and emergency response as summer puts more pressure on island families. The event gives donors, golfers, and sponsors a new way to support the Līhue-based nonprofit at a time when school meals are not available to help fill the gap.

The tournament also marks a public introduction for the food bank’s new executive director, Debbe Evans. Her name appears on the organization’s charitable filing under Kauai Food Bank Inc., which lists the food bank at 3285 Waapa Road, Suite A, in Līhue. The golf outing is being framed as more than a social day on the course: it is meant to support the food bank’s mission to educate, provide nutritious food for the hungry, and respond to emergencies.

That mission stretches well beyond pantry shelves. A nonprofit directory says the Kauai Independent Food Bank serves Kauai and Niihau and operates food salvage and distribution, disaster preparedness and response, a backpack program, a kupuna program, and emergency food bags and boxes. Those services matter on an island where a storm, supply disruption, or household crisis can quickly turn into a food shortage.

The organization’s public financial filings show the scale of the operation. ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer lists about $1.49 million in revenue and about $1.3 million in expenses for 2024, with about $3.37 million in total assets and about $25,800 in liabilities. That puts the food bank in the category of a substantial local service provider, not a small volunteer pantry, and helps explain why a new fundraiser can matter to its annual budget.

Puakea Golf Course offers a fitting venue for that effort. The course describes itself as scenic, with pali and ocean views and holes that pose distinct challenges, which should help draw players who want a scramble format on one of Kauai’s better-known public courses. The July 11 tournament also fits into a wider pattern of island nonprofits leaning on community events to raise support for both daily service and disaster readiness. Hawaii Community Foundation relief material has identified Kauai food nonprofits, including the Kauai Independent Food Bank, as recipients of emergency help for staffing, food, water, and supplies.

For the food bank, the first golf tournament is not just a new fundraiser. It is a signal that the organization is widening its reach as it prepares for the next stretch of summer need on Kauai.