Cupboards Getting Bare at Big Island’s Food Bank
Article By Nathan Christophel, Big Island News Now
While there were supplies on some shelves Wednesday at The Food Basket warehouse in Hilo, they won’t be there long as the food bank continues to experience historic shortages in food supplies. (Photos by Nathan Christophel/Big Island Now)
When times have been hard, Kauaokawehi Kailianu and some of her family members have relied on the services at The Food Basket to help them from going hungry.
“It was a nice little backbone or piece of support to have the resource when it was necessary,” Kailianu said.
Now, times are tough for The Food Basket. Its cupboards are getting bare.
The food shipments, which used to be about 100,000 pounds a month, began dwindling several months ago.
At first, inventory slowly decreased. But in August, no shipments arrived from the federal government. So far in September, just four pallets of food have arrived, said Sara Kritikos, manager of the Hilo warehouse.
As a result, The Food Basket is experiencing an historic low in the amount of food it has available with many shelves at the Hilo warehouse empty. The Big Island’s only food bank used to have 4 to 5 days of supplies on hand at its auxiliary warehouse, but now it is lucky to have half a day’s worth. As quickly as food comes through the doors, it goes out to those in need.
“We’ve never had this issue before,” said Kristin Frost Albrecht, executive director of The Food Basket.
The shortage has been caused by a perfect storm of disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues and skyrocketing inflation. The food bank has been receiving less government aid, which has forced it to try to purchase the majority of its food. It is a big change for the organization — and not sustainable, Albrecht said.
The shortage comes at a time of rising need. The nonprofit said it serves about 50,000 people a month, on an island with a population of just over 200,000. Lines are getting longer during distributions of emergency food in Hilo and Kona and several of the food bank’s pantry partners around the island also are experiencing spikes in the number of people they serve.