Imagine a Thanksgiving dinner with no turkey, no cranberries, no orange sweet potatoes.

This would be the Thanksgiving dinner you would be serving if the vast amounts of food we import to Hawaii were cut off. Fully 90 percent of all the food we consume, including these traditional Thanksgiving favorites, are imported to our shores, consuming huge amounts of energy to do so.

Furthermore, 80 percent of the food that we produce in Hawaii is exported. This leaves us hanging in the balance with a serious sustainable food deficit.

Enter: Feed the Hunger Foundation, a nonprofit organization that gives micro-loans to those in Hawaii’s sustainable food industry. Originally formed on the West Coast, Feed the Hunger made a name for itself by granting loans on an international scale throughout the world — in Nepal, Central America and Africa — primarily to women who were small entrepreneurs rising out of poverty.

In 2008, the foundation came to Hawaii and called its sustainable food initiative "Food for Thought."

Here in Hawaii, we can imagine a new system of food production, environmental security and social enterprise.

Imagine: Replacing 10 percent of the food we import with locally grown food that keeps $313 million in the state and creates 2,300 jobs.

Imagine: Creating processing facilities so that produce and livestock could be readied for consumption in Hawaii instead of being shipped to the mainland.

Imagine: Supporting food companies that use locally sourced food to provide healthy school lunches and meals on our military bases.

Imagine: Ensuring that Hawaii’s keiki are well-nourished. Currently, 1 in 5 goes to bed hungry.

Food for Thought promotes sustainable and healthy food production by making a loan to entrepreneurs with otherwise limited or non-existent funding options to open or expand their businesses.

The program supports a wide range of food-related businesses including farms, composts, aquaponic fish and vegetable systems, transportation, grocery stores, catering companies, cafes and restaurants.

Through the Pacific Gateway Center, Food for Thought has issued more than 20 micro-loans in the past year. For example, farmers in Kunia Agriculture Park have used the funds to bring fresh produce directly to consumers living in areas with no nearby grocery stores.

Food for Thought has also partnered with other nonprofits, such as Kako‘o ‘Oiwi, Adaptations Inc., Green Wheel Food Hub, Naked Cow Dairy and WOW Farms to further the organization’s commitment to enhancing Hawaii’s food security. More than just financial resources, Food for Thought equips individuals and small businesses that were turned away by banks with the support networks and advice that they need to succeed.

Recently, Food for Thought received a substantial grant from the federal government, making more than $1 million in micro-loans available to low-income entrepreneurs and small businesses in Hawaii’s food industry.

If you have tried the traditional route of bank loans with no success, contact us to apply for a small loan. We invest in people who want to make an impact, a change, not just for themselves but also for their community.