Above: HFA trucks line up with critical supplies for Lahaina at the War Memorial
They have secured additional warehouse space to store all products donated for Maui, and will continue to send regular shipments of food, depending on what is needed. More than a dozen containers have been received already, and another 40-plus containers are in the pipeline. Across the continent other sister food banks have stepped in with various forms of support. Feeding America, Central California Food Bank, Find Food Bank, Second Har- vest Food Bank of Orange County, Alameda County Community Food Bank, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Second Harvest of the Greater Valley, Feeding San Diego, Food Bank of Santa Barbara County, Second Har- vest Silicon Valley, San Diego Food Bank, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, Redwood Em- pire Food Bank, and others have generously provided emergency food donations, staff support and more. Additionally, many of these food banks have offered cross-docking ser- vices, an efficient logistics strategy that saves money, reduces shipping time and maintains freshness of food. The Hawaiʻi Foodbank continues partner- ing with Maui County to provide food and technical assistance for their Maui-facilitat- ed distribution sites in Kahului and Kahana offering food, water and supplies to people who have been impacted by the wildfires. FINDING A WAY ACROSS THE CHANNEL OKIMOTO CORP. The fact that our state is made up of islands can make disaster response challenging. The fact that many of our towns are coastal communities linked by only one or two roads can make disaster management extremely challenging. When news of the fire broke, Kit Okimoto realized that some of the most accessible food to Lahaina might not be on Maui at all, but rather at Okimoto Corp.’s Friendly Market Center on Molokai. Despite the proximity, Kit immediately ran into a problem, “I asked the shippers and there was no system in place to get large
of Climate Change & Sea Rise, co-produced by Chad Buck and Hugh Gentry of KITV. Chad recommends that anyone interested in learning about the efforts check out the documentary. When asked his thoughts on how to best support Maui now, Chad offered the follow- ing advice “As Maui continues opening up to tourism, I encourage local people from oth- er islands to visit and support Maui. There are thousands of families who have a family member or two who have lost their jobs and are in danger of defaulting on their mortgag- es. Maui will continue to need support from all neighboring islands as they move forward.” SUPPORT FROM SISTER FOOD BANKS THE HAWAII FOODBANK Across the state 1 in 6 Hawai‘i residents struggle with hunger every day. With the wildfires thousands of households were dis- placed causing many more families to lose their consistent access to safe, healthy food. In order to meet this need Hawai‘i Foodbank has been working collaboratively with the Maui Food Bank to provide support to those impacted by the wildfires while continuing to address the ongoing food assistance needs across the state. When the fires struck, the Maui Food Bank immediately sprang into action working to provide food at several new distribution points and shelters. The Hawaiʻi Foodbank immediately stepped up to provide much needed support. Prepar- ing emergency food and supplies to send to Maui was a crucial first step. In addition to food the Hawaiʻi Foodbank has also been providing much needed staff- ing and logistical support. Between two and six Hawaiʻi Foodbank team members have been sent to Maui each week, and other team members are assisting remotely. The Hawaiʻi Foodbank team has been working with local and national companies to source needed food items for Maui distribution while managing the tremendous amount of food donations provided locally and nationally.
and set up both locations with the necessary equipment to run operationally and handle the large amount of goods coming in. Chad talked about the scale of their mobilization into the impacted areas, “As of today, we have made over 1,300 trucking moves from the west coast to Hawaiʻi and across all is- lands to expedite aid into Maui.” Many of the mainland organizations and donors moved their truckloads of goods through HFA Long Beach for consolidation into ocean contain- ers to move their donations from the west coast to Maui. Today and for the foreseeable future, HFA continues to operate as the logis- tics arm for state and county as they support the various distribution sites across Maui. Prior to the fires, Chad and other stake- holders planned a Disaster Preparedness Summit, which was initially scheduled to take place at the Governor’s Office in Sep- tember, but is being rescheduled for early 2024. The timing of the Summit was planned to coincide with the release of the docu- mentary Preparing for Disaster in the Age
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