KEKAHA – State Senate Speaker Ron Kouchi, Representative Dee Morikawa, Mayor Derek SK Kawakami and other E Ola Mau leaders agreed that Kekaha Food Relief 2021 was a “true community effort”, Saturday while thanking the hundreds of volunteers who flocked to the Kekaha District Center Park.
Andrey Sabas was visiting from Ewa Beach, O’ahu and was one of the volunteers helping to feed more than 750 families, including a number of residents who did not have access to a car for the drive-through distribution.
“He wants to move here now,” said a relative from Sabas who volunteered with Corteva Agriscience. “He was here, so he decided he would come and help. “
E Ola Mau, in partnership with its network of community sponsors, including the Kekaha Agriculture Association, Kaua’i Shrimp, Kaua’i County, Grove Farm Foundation, Hawai’i Foodbank, Kaua’i Branch, Pepsi, The Kaua’i Island Utilities Cooperative and Hawai’i Health Systems Corporation, Kaua’i Region and others celebrated the July 4, 2021 festivities with the residents of Kekaha.
“It was money we had set aside for the annual 4th of July fireworks display,” said Garret Agena of E Ola Mau. “But with the pandemic, we can’t do fireworks and people still need food, so we decided to use that money to feed the community.”
Eileen Naka’ahiki of the Hawai’i Health Systems Corporation in the Kaua’i area was part of the HHSC volunteer corps, volunteering at the same distribution tent where Sabas worked.
“People are getting good food,” Naka’ahiki said. “There is a bag of vegetables, a bag of fruit including top quality mangoes, groceries, fresh fish, Kaua’i shrimp, frozen burgers, a log of Gothenburg sausage and more again.”
Wes Perreira of the Hawai’i Food Bank, Kaua’i branch, said people were asking, trying to confirm that Goteborg was going to be part of the cast.
Pua Kaohelauli’i and Blanca Gil from the Kaua’i District Health Unit were also among the volunteers, ensuring that notices for the next vaccination clinic on Saturday were also included in the food packages.
Ho’ola Lahui Community Health Clinic, in partnership with Malama Pono Health Services, Kaua’i District and County Health Unit, is hosting a contextual vaccination clinic on Saturday at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center in 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
There will also be a pop-up clinic in Laukona Park from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Individuals attending the clinics have the choice of either the Moderna two-dose vaccine or a Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine.
Susan Oshiro of Ho’ola Lahui noted that the July 10 clinic coincides with the time of the second injection of the two-shot Moderna vaccine that people received at the first clinic in Kekaha. People who complete their vaccines can receive free “Knock Out COVID, Protect Kaua’i” t-shirts and caps while supplies last.
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Dennis fujimoto, writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or [email protected].