Volunteers expect to hand out emergency bags of food Tuesday to 150-300 federal workers on Oahu affected by the partial federal government shutdown.
Foodbank Hawaii President and CEO Ron Mizutani says volunteers were at the organization’s Mapunapuna warehouse Saturday packing 300 bags with nonperishables.
The 20-pound bags contain toasted oat cereal, peanut butter, spaghetti, pasta sauce and canned green beans, corn, peaches, chicken, chicken soup and beef stew. Each bag will feed two people.
Mizutani said at the warehouse there were volunteers from Hawaiian Airlines, Monsanto, Aulani and even some Disney employees on vacation.
The American Federation of Government Employees will distribute the emergency food bags at the Seafarers International Union hall at 606 Kalihi St. at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Federal workers will need to provide identification verifying their employment.
Most of the federal workers are expected to be Transportation Security
Administration employees. The AFGE handed out flyers about the food distribution Thursday during a silent-march protest at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
There will be similar food distributions on Kauai, Maui and Hawaii island.
Foodbank Hawaii dropped off a similar mix of nonperishable food plus rice, fresh fruit and potatoes Saturday at the Coast Guard Exchange on Sand Island for members of the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard Spouses’ Association of Oahu handled the distribution. Mizutani said the donated food was enough for 200 families of four.
Members of military services that are part of the Department of Defense are getting paid during the partial government shutdown. Members of the Coast Guard, however, are not because the service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The number of federal
civilian employees in Hawaii that are either furloughed or working without pay is an estimated 2,741, according to website governing.com. The organization earlier this month said the number was 12.2 percent of the civilian federal workforce of 22,449 in the state — excluding the Defense Department’s active-duty military.
Mizutani said Foodbank Hawaii was distributing 40,000-60,000 pounds of food each day before the partial federal government shutdown. He said the community has responded to the need with donations but that the organization last week had already had to make two 40,000-pound food purchases to keep the warehouse stocked.
He said he expects the purchase from a local vendor to arrive by next week but that the purchase from the mainland vendor will take four to six weeks to arrive.
“We need the local community to make up the difference,” Mizutani said.
People can make cash
donations online at hawaii
foodbank.org, or food donations at the food bank’s Mapunapuna warehouse, 2611 Kilihau St.