Lawmakers consider aid for food banks as need persists

Food banks in Hawaii are appealing for more support nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic as economic struggles for many residents persist, and state lawmakers are considering a special deposit to help.

Hawaii’s Legislature typically doesn’t appropriate general fund revenue to support local food banks, but this year such a move is being proposed given extraordinary circumstances.

Lawmakers are considering giving $2 million to food banks serving Oahu, Maui County, Hawaii island and Kauai.

A measure to contribute the money, Senate Bill 2169, was advanced Thursday by the Senate Committee on Human Services following an initial public hearing on the bill that drew an outpouring of supportive testimony from individuals and organizations including Kaiser Permanente, the Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and the Hawaii Primary Care Association.

Food bank representatives and health industry advocates said food and financial donations have been decreasing more than demand as the pandemic drags on and food prices increase.

“The need for food has not diminished although funding from the federal and philanthropic (sources) has declined,” Peggy Mierzwa, senior public policy analyst for nonprofit health plan provider AlohaCare, told the committee in written testimony.

Hawaii Foodbank, which operates on Oahu and Kauai, in 2021 distributed about twice as much food and served 50% more people than it did in 2019 before COVID-19 took hold, according to Amy Marvin, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization.

“We’ve been really able to reach that increased need due to a major increase in federal funds and philanthropy,” she said Thursday during the hearing. “But we really need support from the state to continue to meet the needs of our community and ensure nobody goes hungry. We’ve been seeing federal support, federal commodities, really decline substantially over the last year. And philanthropic support, while it’s still higher than it was prior to the pandemic, has also declined.”

Kristin Frost Albrecht, executive director of The Food Basket Inc. on Hawaii island, testified that the same weakening trend of support is affecting her organization’s operations in Hilo and Kona, which are serving nearly six times more people than before the pandemic.

“The state’s food banks need support to continue to ensure no one goes hungry,” she said in written testimony.

On the Valley Isle, Maui Food Bank board member Marsha Fahir told the committee that philanthropic contributions have waned and that she isn’t aware of the organization seeking state funding during the five years she’s been on the board.

Marvin said in an interview that Hawaii Foodbank does apply for grants through the state’s grants-in-aid program but that a general fund appropriation would be a first.

Under a federal calculation of poverty rates and population by county, state funding would be split 61% for Oahu, 20% for Hawaii island, 13% for Maui County and 6% for Kauai.

Marvin said the combined 68% of $2 million for Oahu and Kauai, equating to $1.3 million of the contemplated $2 million state contribution, would be fantastic help given how much more money the organization has been spending to buy food since the economic fallout from the pandemic began.

Before the pandemic, Hawaii Foodbank spent about $400,000 a year buying food because most was donated, Marvin said, adding that the cost since then has been 30 times higher averaging $1 million a month.

“It’s incredible,” she said.

Hawaii Foodbank’s food purchase cost is now down to about $500,000 a month, but Marvin said it likely will be many years before demand subsides to normal levels given that it remained elevated for 10 years after the recession that took place in the late 2000s.

“The tail on this is going to be pretty substantial,” she said. “We are so appreciative of this bill.”