INSIDE THE RESCUE Rescuing Food to Feed Hawaii’s Hungry March 2015 Volume 2, Issue 2

Agency Highlight U.S. VETS is devoted to “ Serving Those Who Served.” Since the private national non-profit organization started providing on-site and community housing and career development at the state’s Waianae Civic Center eight years ago, Aloha Harvest has served along with it.

As Hawai`i’s only U.S. VETS location serving both veterans and civilians, and their families, WCC now helps 300 men, women and children each day. Also known as Pai`olu Kaiaulu (“A lift of encour-agement as the journey begins”), the site began under an emer-gency proclamation by Gov. Linda Lingle in 2007.

In 2013, the state asked Pai`olu Kaiaulu and U.S. VETS to take over management of Kulia I Ka Nu`u (“Striving to reach the sum-mit”), an affordable/transitional opportunity for the unsheltered on the Leeward Coast. Kulia I Ka Nu`u (formerly known as Kahikolu) is now open to all, with veterans considered a priority. They make up some 20 percent of the residents.

“That first year was a big stretch for us,” Executive Director Gladys Peraro says. “But the great thing is … we really had a great team. Almost 100 percent of the staff that was formerly with Kulia I Ka Nu`u came on. It was an ideal situation and helped us make a smooth transition. They had the same philosophy and mindset and our mission was transferred. Their staff came on and they were all excellent.”

The two facilities serve breakfast and dinner to as many as 500 daily. Aloha Harvest delivers food for both sites at least monthly, providing the opportunity for residents to also have lunch along with making perishable and non-perishable foods available.

“It is truly an invaluable service Aloha Harvest provides,” says Peraro, whose husband served 30 years in the Coast Guard. “We don’t have lunch routinely so families with no income or very low income can get food.

“Aloha Harvest also helps us augment the food pantry we have. Perisha-ble items we immediately distribute on property. We look at the non-perishable items’ expira-tion date and incorporate some into the

emergency supplies we dole out to people that come in. Having emergency supplies is especially important on the Leeward Coast.”

Hawai’i chef Mark “Gooch” Noguchi is Aloha Har-

vest’s current Got Food? spokesperson. Here pic-

tured with his wife, Amanda Coby-Noguchi, and

their daughter. Previous Got Food? ads featured

Laird Hamilton, Bethany Hamilton, Danny Kalei-

kini, Howard Dashefsky, Amy Hanaiali`i, Jack

Johnson, Miss Aloha Hula 2014 Kealohi Serrao

and Roy Yamaguchi.

Waianae Civic Center is having its sixth annual Hana Like Kakou (Many Hands Working Together) benefit dinner May 9 at Hilton Hawaiian Village. Tickets are available by calling 696-6779 or 620-0676.

U.S.VETS is a private non-profit organization that provides “housing, employment and counseling services to our na-tion’s veterans, the men and women from all branches of the armed forces who have served their country from World War II to the current conflict in Afghanistan.”

Aloha Harvest is available to help any 501(c)3 non-profit organization on O`ahu with a feeding program. Agency applications are available online (alohaharvest.org) or by calling the office (537-6945).

Food Donor Corner TED’S BAKERY Hard to imagine, with its huge lines, legendary status and Chocolate Haupia Cream Pie, but Ted’s Bakery has “plenty leftovers,” according to General Manager Glorence Corpuz.

Since Ted’s was first approached at Sunset Beach some three years ago, many of those leftovers have been picked up by Aloha Harvest and donated to agencies that alleviate hunger in Hawaii.

Pastries make up the bulk of Ted’s “excess food,” along with shoyu chicken. Think Pumpkin Haupia and Lilikoi Cheese Pie, Pineapple Macadamia Nut Cheese and Chocolate Chantilly Haupia Cake, Waimea Rolls and Chocolate Covered Twist Glazers. Hungry yet?

According to the bakery’s website, Ted’s Bakery’s roots go back to 1906, when Torojiro Nakamura immigrated from Kumamoto, Japan, to Kihei, Maui to work on the Maui Sugar Plantation. He transferred to the Kahuku Sugar Plantation on Oahu, then leased three acres of the land when his contract was up.

With his sons, Nakamura successfully cultivated land that had been deemed “unusable” and ultimately purchased property in Sunset Beach in 1950 with his son Takemitsu.

The son built Sunset Beach Store in 1956 and ran it until 1987. Takemitsu’s son, Ted, opened the bakery inside the store. By 1996, Ted was wholesaling cream pies to stores and supermarkets across the island.

The North Shore’s surfing boom encouraged him to expand his menu and Ted’s now serves full meals from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday, along with those wondrous pies, cakes and other pastries.

“We are mostly known for our pies,” Corpuz says. “We are delivering to other islands now.”

And, for the past three years, Ted’s is delivering its sweet food to those who need it most. Aloha Harvest picks up as much as 50 pounds of “mostly pastries” a week.

Based on the bakery’s popularity — it now has an outlet in Japan and a Japanese website — it’s hard to believe anything is left behind.

Any restaurant, catering service, hotel or food distribution warehouse is eligible to partner with Aloha Harvest. It is also an easy and efficient way for individuals or groups planning a catered event, luau or food drive to help those who need help the most.

Message from the E.D. Our drivers are the face of Aloha Harvest and thanks to Greg Nacapoy, brothers Hiram and Gideon “Kiki” Johnson, Jayson Canoneo and George Stevens we usually put our best face forward.

Most days, our drivers are on the road in one of our two refrigerated trucks from at least 5:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. They pick up from some 300 restaurants, caterers, government facilities, hotels, food distributors, businesses and others who donate food that would other-wise be wasted. They are on-call at night for special events that call in with excess food and work a modified weekend schedule.

As the trucks fill up during the day, drivers start calling out to one of the nearly 180 non-profit agencies that help feed the hun-gry, needy and homeless. Based on what and how much is in the truck, drivers deliver it all — up to 21,000 pounds some days — to agencies that need it most that same day. We have no storage space and strict food service standards are followed.

We try to always provide service with a smile. Our drivers are extremely friendly guys who are serious about really getting to know the people and agencies they deal with. All of them realize they are making a difference in the lives of the people who receive our food.

Greg has been working for Aloha Harvest since I came on in 2004. Our most soft-spoken driver works fulltime at another job but drives for us on Saturdays because he truly enjoys what we do. Hiram, our most gregari-ous driver, and older brother Kiki are fulltime with us and part-time musicians. George is also fulltime and fully dedicated to our mis-sion. Jayson is our youngest driver covering our Sunday route and also works fulltime at another job.

Thanks to all of you for your spirit and devo-tion. You delivered 2.2 million pounds of food last year and each month we help feed 65,000 individuals, from Honolulu to Waianae and the Windward side, including the North Shore.

That’s something to smile about.

Ku`ulei Williams, Executive Director

Big Mahalo The Fill the Truck Food Drive collected 1,245 pounds of

non-perishable foods and more than $2,000 in monetary

donations! Mahalo to everyone who supported this food

drive. A special thanks goes out to our volunteers from

Hands in Helping Out (HIHO), Air force Squads, Kaiser

High’s Interact Club and many individuals, as well as

Safeway and Brug Bakery for providing refreshments for

our volunteers.

January’s Papa John’s Pizza Payback raised a total of

$705.50. Thank you for supporting this tasty fundraiser!

Two new pallet jacks were purchased thanks to Central Pacific Bank Foundation’s

operational grant of $20,000.

Whole Foods Market again selected

Aloha Harvest as the recipient for the

Feed 4 More holiday campaign.

Together, the Kailua and Kahala stores

contributed a total of $14,431.60 worth of

nonperishable foods and monetary

donations. This couldn’t have been

possible without the tremendous support

from the entire WFM team and its

wonderful customers. Mahalo!

$20,000 & ABOVE Central Pacific Bank Foundation

*Combined Federal Campaign First Hawaiian Bank Foundation

*First Hawaiian Bank’s Kokua Mai Campaign Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation Hawaiian Electric Industries

Whole Foods Kailua

$10,000 TO 19,999 Aloha Petroleum Seto Foundation

Whole Foods Kahala

$2,000 TO $9,999 ABC Stores

Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing Alternate Energy, Inc.

*Aloha United Way Cedar Assembly of God

First Insurance Charitable Foundation Friends of Hawaii Charities, Inc.

Ifuku Family Foundation Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation

Kokua in Kind, LLC Tommy Holmes Foundation

Watumull Foundation

$500 TO $1,999 Comprehensive Health Management

Feinstein Foundation Fill the Truck Food Drive First Wind Energy, LLC

Gena Marques Hawaii Book Publishers Association

J. Ohara Kahi Moahala Behavioral Health

Katherine Pahnka Matson Foundation

Mei Chun Peter Dugeon International, Inc. St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church

Stanley & Lorraine Luke Terry & Katherine Thomason

You Hui Yi

$250 TO $499 *Agency Fair & Food Drive

Bob Flores Express Employment Professionals

*Foodland’s Give Aloha Program Francis Imada

Good Samaritan Foundation Michael Tanaka

River of Life Mission

$100 TO $249 Ann Bernson

Barbara Campbell Carol Aramaki Chad Funasaki

Chloe Wurr Claude Nagaishi

Denise Buto

$100 TO $249 CON’T

Edward Goya Greg Isara

Hans Bertram-Nothanagel Jonathan & Paula Wong

Juanita Perreira Judy Perrault Kevin Masuda

Lori Jansen Patrice Sumikawa

Paul McCurdy Po’ailani, Inc.

Punahou School Reid Kaneko

Robert Sumida St. Jude Church

St. Timothy’s Church Susan Stahl Tad Tadani

Wesley Foundation

UP TO $99 Alex & Sally Uyeshiro

Angela Chock Anthony Wong

Bethany Gleason

UP TO $99 CON’T Bobby Alexander

Brian Kunihiro Calvin Say

Cary Hosaka Compassion in Arts Exhibit

Darryl & Susan Lee Dennis Higashiguchi

Elizabeth Powers Gary Toyama Gayle Pingree

Give Back Foundation Glenn Hamada Glenn Ogawa

Jan Valdez Jean Evans

Jennifer Metrose Joseph Griggs Karen Oshiro

Keith Nakamura Kenneth Nakakura

Linda Stringer Lorinda Cheng-Arashiro

Mabel Lum Maile Burke Mark Davis

Mahalo to our 2014 Financial Donors UP TO $99 CON’T

Mary Ku Meal Exchange

Melvin & Lynn Murata Merle Miura

Nate Fong PayPal Giving Fund

Philip & Gerry Ching Renata Sasaki Richard Weil

Robert & Sheila Cyboron Roger Miller Roy Vincent

Sandford & Frances Murata Susan Kaya

Susan Li Tammy Gautier

Tyler Ralston Violet Oyama

Walter Kuwasaki Wayne Shiohira

Yee Hop Realty Limited

*Campaigns and fundraisers that involve multiple number of

individuals

Employees from WFM Kailua and WFM Kahala presenting their checks to Aloha Harvest.

HIHO volunteers Cheri Ki-shimoto and Jason

Nagamine helping to “fill the truck.”

Kōkua Today

Donate by Check Aloha Harvest 3599 Waialae Ave #23 Honolulu, HI 96816 Donate by Credit Card

Call (808) 537-6945 or visit our website www.alohaharvest.org Donate Food Call (808) 537-6945 Donate Time Call (808) 537-6945 or email info@alohaharvest.org

3599 Waialae Avenue #23

Honolulu, Hawaii 96816

Rescuing Food to Feed Hawaii’s Hungry

NonProfit Org.

US Postage

PAID

Honolulu, HI

Permit No. 1474

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lisa Tomihama, Chair

Robert Harrison, Emeritus Chair

Thomas Grimes, Vice President

Emi Kaimuloa, Secretary

Bonny Amemiya, Treasurer

Chris Colgate

Kevin Oda

Janice Fukuda

Jennifer Shiraki

Marci McCalmon

STAFF

Ku´ulei Williams

Mele Pepa

Greg Nacapoy

Hiram Johnson

Kiki Johnson

George Stevens

Jayson Canoneo

SUPPLY LABEL DONORS

Aloha Harvest supplies its Food Donors with

storage containers to pack their excess food

in it. Each cake box or pan has an

Aloha Harvest label pictured below. Special

thanks to the following companies for

sponsoring these labels:

Hawaiian Electric Industries

Central Pacific Bank Foundation

Alternate Energy, LLC