Rain or shine, 82-year-old volunteer can be counted on to help feed people in Kihei

Early in the morning, rain or shine, Naomi Uehara’s neighbors see her head down the street to the bus stop, on her way to a day of feeding people. Late in the afternoon they see the petite 82-year-old woman walking home, a harder journey because her apartment is near the top of a hill that overlooks Kahului.

Many have offered her a ride, but Uehara turns them down. She likes the walk, and she likes riding the bus so much that, each morning, she stays in her seat all the way to Wailea and back through Kihei, enjoying the views, before getting off at the stop near St. Theresa Catholic Church on South Kihei Road.

Uehara is a volunteer at Hale Kau Kau, a ministry of St. Theresa’s which has been feeding people in need since 1991. Most of those served by Hale Kau Kau come to the church for their meals, where picnic tables are stretched out along a covered walkway. Social-distancing marks lead to a pass-through window where they pick up their plates. Meals are delivered to others who are homebound or disabled.

In April 2019 the program served 4,100 meals, according to program director Jeff Naumann. This year the number is up to 4,700, due to an increase in homeless people and those who simply need food because they are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We don’t turn anybody away, as long as they’re wearing a shirt and shoes and are willing to wash up” at the sinks outside the kitchen, Naumann says. Even with more patrons at the dinner hour (5 to 6 p.m., seven days a week), the program has enough food because, in addition to cash donations, it has a good working relationship with the Maui Food Bank and picks up excess food from Safeway and Whole Foods.

“So far, so good,” Naumann says.

Uehara is one of the most regular volunteers, coming in at least five days a week, working from the time the chef arrives at about 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. or later.

“Naomi’s really dependable and really valuable to us,” says Naumann.

Her job is to make salads, chopping up lettuce, sometimes adding some canned corn or olives if tomatoes and cucumbers are not available.

Uehara draws on a lifetime of experience that began when her grandmother taught her to cook. She worked in kitchens on Oahu all her life, until she and her late husband moved to Maui several decades ago, and then at a Kahului restaurant for 10 years.

Uehara began working at Hale Kau Kau after hearing on the radio that it needed volunteers. She drove to Kihei for most of the four-plus years since then, but when her car broke down last year, the mechanic said it was not worth fixing. For $25 a month she can ride the bus.

“I really like it,” Uehara says, even though it takes a couple of hours to reach her destination. She catches the 7:18 a.m. bus at her home stop, then transfers to the Kihei/Wailea bus at the Maui Bus central terminal at Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center.

“It’s kind of fun on the bus. I really enjoy it,” she says. “I get to see people I haven’t seen for years,” though often lately she is the only passenger. As for that hike down the hill and back up again, she’s clocked it: only 11 minutes from home to the bus stop, and she says walking is good for the arthritis in her legs.

“We have offered her rides,” Naumann says, but Uehara prefers to walk and ride the bus. “She’s always early.”

Uehara works in a smaller volunteer team these days, as the program has had to limit the number of people in the kitchen to four at a time, even with gloves and masks. She misses seeing some of the other volunteers. And she misses the library, where she borrows audiobooks to enjoy during her time off.