Hawaiʻi County Should Prioritize Food Security

Let us not stand by while our children go hungry. The burden does not fall on their small shoulders, but on ours.

We, the stewards, the leaders, and the lawmakers, bear the kuleana. If we fail to care for our keiki, we fail as a people.

Across Hawaiʻi island, families face hunger every day. Now, with federal food assistance programs like SNAP suffering recent cuts, the threat of starvation is no longer abstract — it is urgent. And still, our county government has failed to act.

On June 5, in the face of federal cuts already impacting our communities, council member Jennifer Kagiwada (District 2) introduced a modest but vital amendment — $2 million for local food security programs. But the amendment was voted down.

Council members Matt Kaneali’i-KleinfeIder (District 5), Holeka Inaba (District 8), Dennis “Fresh” Onishi (District 3), James Hustace (District 9) along with Kona council member Rebecca Villegas (District 7) voted against it. The amendment was supported only by council members Kagiwada, Michelle Galimba (District 6), and Heather Kimball (District 1). Council member Ashley Kierkiewicz (District 4) was absent.

The excuse for voting against food security programs? “Too last minute.” “No plan.”

Yet this same council passed a $950 million budget. Surely, if they are wise enough to pass such a monumental budget, they are wise enough to convene a subcommittee — or a task force — to figure out a plan to feed their own people.

Hungry Households

The numbers are staggering. Over 40% of Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Filipinos and American Indian/Alaska Natives in Hawaiʻi live in food-insecure households, according to the Hawaiʻi Foodbank’s statewide 2023 survey. Not surprisingly, students and folks without a college education are the most affected by food insecurity.

On Hawaiʻi island, 40% of families are food insecure — the highest rate in the state. The reality is undeniable: “He pilikia koʻikoʻi kēia” — this is a serious, urgent problem.

To our County Council and Mayor Kimo Alameda: if hunger is not your preeminent task, what is? Our keiki cry out not for your speeches, but for your action. “He aliʻi ka ʻāina; he kauwā ke kanaka.” (The land is the chief, man is its servant.)

The land, and by extension its people — especially its children — are chief. Leaders must serve. They must feed.

Hawaiʻi island is sacred. It is the home of Pele. It is steeped in the values and wisdom of the kūpuna. You can feel that manaʻo — the spiritual intelligence of this place — in every breeze, every stone, every ʻohana gathering.

It tells us: feed the people. Care for the next generation. Protect the dignity of the hungry.

Crucial funding has been paused, including FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program which funded local meal services like Peanut Butter Ministries in Hilo, which serves hot meals to our houseless neighbors twice a week.

These programs run on aloha, but aloha alone will not pay for rice, eggs or gas. Without county leadership, our community’s capacity to care for one another will collapse under the weight of unmet need.

We are grateful to council members Jennifer Kagiwada, Michelle Galimba and Heather Kimball. Your courage and compassion will be remembered. To the rest of our leaders: “I ka nānā no a ʻike.” (By observing, one learns). If you truly observe, you will see the hunger in our children’s eyes — and you will act.

The County Council has kuleana to care for those they represent. It is not optional. It’s part of what they were entrusted to do. Let us not be remembered as the generation who looked away while children went hungry on the sacred slopes of Hawaiʻi.

If food security matters to you, the reader, please contact your council member and the mayor’s office.