Photo courtesy Hawai‘i Foodbank
By: Amy Miller
Currently, 29% of Hawai‘i’s keiki are struggling with food insecurity—meaning they are not receiving enough food for an active, healthy life. Even worse, 6% of our keiki are going without food for whole days at a time.
For many households, school-provided meals are a critical resource that help families make it through each school day. But evenings, weekends, holidays, and long breaks from school continue to pose challenges.
Hawai‘i Foodbank’s Food 4 Keiki School Pantry program aims to bridge that gap and to provide a healthy option for keiki and families facing hunger. Now in 56 schools, the School Pantry program provides students with dependable, safe, and healthy food through a variety of different models, tailored to the needs of each unique school community. We’re especially excited about our “choice” model, where students and caregivers are able to select from a variety of fresh produce and shelf-stable items depending on their own family’s needs. Food is distributed free of charge, and students can enjoy healthy snacks during the day as well as take food home to their families for evenings and over the weekend.
Hawai‘i Foodbank recognizes the important connection between health and hunger, and the particular need for nutritious food for our keiki. Children who experience food insecurity can face an increased risk of cognitive issues, aggression, anxiety, behavioral problems, hospitalization, depression, and suicidal ideation. The presence of a School Pantry on campus not only provides the physical and cognitive benefits that come with increased access to safe and healthy foods but also contributes to a child’s overall well-being. School Pantries help expand students’ familiarity with healthy food options, build self-confidence, and destigmatize hunger.
Thanks to seed funding support from the Hawai‘i Leadership Forum (HLF), Hawai‘i Foodbank has been able to expand fresh produce distribution from 15 to 54 pantries so far this school year. We are still working on building regular distribution pathways—not all have been able to receive and distribute produce on a regular basis—but are incredibly grateful to HLF for galvanizing this major shift, and we intend to continue to expand our produce distribution into every school pantry.
Photos courtesy Hawai‘i Foodbank
With the opportunity to provide fresh produce in all our school pantries, these become opportunities for students to get excited about healthy food, talk about foods they like, and learn about food items with which they are less familiar. “The children were thrilled to see papayas and pineapples this week, and they also enjoyed the plums,” said Ali Amantiad, parent community network coordinator at Ka‘ala Elementary School.
For more information on School Pantries and all Hawai‘i Foodbank’s Food 4 Keiki programs, please visit HawaiiFoodbank.org/keiki.
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