Starley DuPonte

Ryan Smith

English Research Essay

28 March 2021

Too Little: Food Insecurity in Hawaii

Introduction

Living in Hawaii, it’s easy to be blinded by all the beauty our home has to offer. We often find

ourselves missing or unconsciously turning a head away from the tragic sights right in front of

our eyes. Things we see in our everyday lives. There are over 159,040 people who are struggling

with hunger in Hawaii, and of them, 55,710 are young children. This number consists of

homeless individuals or just day-to-day people who can’t seem to bring in enough money to

support their families. Many people are unable to afford the cost of living in Hawaii and can’t

provide themselves with daily meals. In the state of Hawaii, nearly half of households with

children are food insecure. As COVID endures and unemployment rises, the statewide food

insecurity rate for 2020 was projected at 16.8% for adults and 29.4% for children. This is over

89,050 children facing hunger in our home.

Hunger has a heavy toll on an individual’s mental health. Facing hunger in your everyday life

can be deeply stressful, constantly worrying about where your or your family's next meal will

come from. Being in this situation can cause mental health problems such as depression, anxiety,

or even posttraumatic stress disorder. The inability to feed your loved ones can have traumatic

effects on your life. Hunger can also lead to malnutrition, which slows development, leaving

children and adults vulnerable to diseases and illness. It increases an individual’s chance of

getting high blood sugar, heart disease, and diabetes. Malnutrition is a leading cause of death for
young children. Poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can lead to stunted growth,

which is irreversible and leads to future disabilities and reduced school and work performance.

People should care about solving their community's hunger problem because everyone deserves a

chance at a potential future and the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-

being of himself. My first solution to helping solve this problem consists of organizing a

community food drive at my local church. I can get in touch with the members who run the

church and make plans to organize a food drive alongside them, hosting the event in their church.

My second solution to helping solve this problem is to set up a food tent next to a homeless

campsite one day. I can provide them with free cooked food plates for a few hours throughout

that day.

The Problem

Poverty is the major cause of hunger in Hawaii. Although our poverty rates aren’t very high

compared to other states, we still have a poverty rate of 10.3%. One out of every 9.7 residents of

Hawaii lives in poverty, not bringing in enough income for their basic needs, such as food. In

2020, 143,148 residents reported income levels below the poverty line. Children under the age of

six have the highest poverty rate at 13.9%. Children ages six to eleven then follow with a rate of

12.7%. Children ages twelve to seventeen follow last with a poverty rate of 12.1%.

Poverty results from job instability, such as lack of jobs or because most jobs in Hawaii pay too

little, considering the cost it takes to live here. Hunger rates rise when the local economy is in a

conflict, dropping people from their work or leaving them in a situation where they cannot find

work. For example, people who have been in prison face discrimination that makes it difficult for

them to find jobs once they get back on their feet. Another example is single-parent families,
where the parent may not be able to take a job or work enough hours to provide for their family

because they most likely don’t have help with childcare. This gives them no other options to

resort to.

COVID is a recent example of a local economic conflict. It has changed the face of hunger in

Hawaii, by inflicting an even more devastating impact on many Hawaii residents of all ages.

Feeding America has gathered new data, projecting that Hawaii’s food insecurity rate will

increase by around 50%, equaling approximately 233,000 people from the previous amount. This

is more than 80,000 new people who are now unable to provide themselves with enough food to

live a healthy life. Survey data shows that food insecurity has increased for families with

children since the pandemic began and remains high until 2021. These numbers are rising due to

the problems COVID has inflicted on the state of Hawaii, which mainly consists of

unemployment.

When the pandemic was newly introduced and unemployment started to rise, an increasing

number of people found themselves no longer able to provide their homes with food. Most of

these people began to rely on food drives as their “saving grace”. Ron Mitzutani, CEO of the

Hawaii Foodbank, stated that “The face of hunger has changed.”, as he’s witnessed a diversity of

people now experiencing poverty and hunger in their lives. Hawaii arrived number four among

states with the highest percent of change in food insecurity rate. As a tourism-dependent state hit

by job losses, many people lost the ability to pay for food. The hunger has been driven by

unemployment, hitting a 15% range of unemployment rate in September 2020, compared to our

2.4% in March 2020.

Employment plays a major role in contributing to our ability to provide food in our homes.

Without work opportunities experiencing hunger becomes inevitable. If COVID spikes

immensely again, the state of Hawaii will most likely suffer more complications with food

insecurity. This could inflict an even bigger problem on the residents of Hawaii. The pandemic

has most affected families that were already facing hunger or one paycheck away from facing

hunger.

People who are living in poverty in the state of Hawaii are hurt by hunger. These people

are most likely homeless and already living in bad conditions. These are people who just can’t

find a way to bring in enough income to put shelter over their heads or food on their tables.

However, you don’t have to be homeless to be facing hunger in your daily life. Many people

who face hunger have jobs, including more than one. These people work hard just to barely get

by every day and put food on the table for their families, they can be referred to as the “working

poor”.

Children are at the highest risk of hunger because they are dependent on adults to take care of

them. Their younger and developing bodies are more vulnerable to the problems hunger inflicts

upon people. Children who have parents or guardians who aren’t in a state to take proper care of

them suffer the most from hunger. Examples of these situations could include parents who suffer

from drug addiction, drinking problems, mental issues, or who have habits of child

neglect/abuse. Children who have family members/siblings who are suffering from serious

diseases such as cancer can face hunger as well. Parents are forced to leave their jobs to take care

of their children’s all-around medical care and may no longer be able to support the rest of their

kid’s everyday needs as well. With all their money and time been given to one child, it can be

hard to support the rest of the family. Even short-term episodes of hunger can lead to damage to

a child’s development. Children who have family members who are suffering
Hunger puts children at risk of behavioral, emotional, and physical problems. It is vitally

important that children get a healthy start in life from a nutrition point of view, as this is a critical

time of development in a child’s life. Children who are fed and nourished properly learn better in

school. Proper nutrition intake gives them a longer attention span and better focus. This gives

young children a better opportunity at gaining a proper education. As these children grow into

adulthood, they are more likely to be productive and have higher-paying jobs in the future.

Previous Efforts

In Hawaii, we have some charitable programs being provided for people facing food insecurity,

such as The Hawaii Foodbank, Aloha Harvest, and SNAPS (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance

Program). The Hawaii Foodbank has distributed close to 26 million pounds of food from March

2020 until February 2021, according to Marielle Terbio, director of community engagement and

advocacy at the food bank. SNAP, food stamps, provide temporary help for people going

through difficult times or who have low income, providing them with supplemental money to

buy food until they can get back on their feet. This program provides each household member

with around $258 each month for food costs. With SNAP, all children in a household are also

eligible for free school meals if their school participates in the United States Department of

Agriculture (USDA) meal program. SNAP has kept around 69,000 people in Hawaii out of

poverty each year, including 30,000 children.

Aloha Harvest works to get quality excess food into the hands of the needy instead of landfills.

This nonprofit organization is free of charge and liability. They focus on picking up excess food

from over 250 donors and delivering it to agencies feeding the hungry. In the past twenty-two

years, Aloha Harvest has rescued and redistributed over 26 million pounds of food that would
have gone to waste. Along with these programs, The Department of Education shifted to offering

free grab-and-go meals to any child up to age 18 when schools closed in March 2020. This

program was extended through the end of this academic year and is now operating at 194 of the

state’s 257 public schools. More services are being provided as well by Hawaii Foodbank. In

addition to their traditional services providing food to pantries and partner agencies, the food

bank has recently been holding pop-up food distributions weekly in different areas of the island.

Despite pandemic cash payments, enhanced federal food services, and free school meals, some

families are still not receiving the help they need, especially those who aren’t educated as well.

Most families are still finding themselves in a position where they can’t provide food on their

tables. A recent UH Manoa study showed that only 54% of households with low food security

received free food in the previous week, and most of it was from friends and family, not formal

services. These services also don’t serve people who are unsheltered or in unstable housing as

well, who may not be able to store food safely or secure the benefits they deserve. Many barriers

keep people who are facing hunger from getting the help they need such as, lack of public

awareness of available services, shame about needing to use food services, transportation (some

food distributions are drive-up only), difficulty receiving benefits without a stable address, and

lack of a statewide coordinated plan for addressing food insecurity.

The UH study pointed out possible solutions to these issues such as outreach and delivery

services, universal free meals in public schools, and expanding the Double Up Food Bucks

program, which supports local farmers as well as hungry people. Some long-term solutions were

brought up as well such as increasing wages, dealing with housing insecurity, and expanding

employment opportunities.
The Solutions

Hunger is a large issue that can’t be solved by a single person alone. We need a collaboration of

charity programs and government cooperation to make a significant change on our food

insecurity issue. Food insecurity can appear like an overwhelming issue to tackle in our eyes.

However, if we each step up, take on a small role, and educate others on how they can contribute

to this fight, we can make a tremendous change and help work towards pursuing a permanent

end to hunger in Hawaii. There are many actions people can take upon themselves to help serve

the cause.

One easy solution for solving food insecurity is to simply donate what you can. Individuals can

donate food products or money that they have to spare to organizations on our island that are

working to serve the hungry. Such organizations include Hawaii Foodbank, Aloha Harvest,

Hawaii Meals on Wheels Inc, and local food drives in our communities. This solution is most

beneficial to individuals because they don’t have to go out of their way to buy food to donate.

You can simply donate food products from your household that you no longer need or don’t plan

on using anytime soon, and this still helps make a positive impact. The same concept works for

money donations as well, donating your spare change daily can contribute to the bigger picture.

Some people may claim that individual donations aren’t going to put an end to the food

insecurity issue. They might say that these actions are keeping us from making real progress and

that even with these actions, hundreds of people are still going hungry in Hawaii. However, these

actions are a part of the bigger picture and are still necessary to pursue a permanent end to

hunger in our state one day. According to Jasmine Crowe (social entrepreneur and founder of

Goodr), “Food drives and food banks serve a huge purpose in the fight against hunger”. Both

Hawaii Foodbank and Aloha Harvest have distributed nearly 26 million pounds of food to people
facing hunger throughout our state, making it crucial to support these organizations and keep

them active in our communities.

Another solution to solving food insecurity is to volunteer your spare time to go out into the

community and serve the hungry. This can include organizing a local food drive in your

community, hosting a BBQ alongside a homeless camp, putting together bags of food for the

needy people in your community, or just simply buying a meal for the homeless person you pass

by in your car every day. These don’t have to be expensive meals as well. Receiving a decent

lunch plate or a bag of canned goods can make a significant difference in someone’s daily life.

One may argue that this isn’t a solution for food insecurity as well. They might say that these

actions won’t serve everyone facing hunger in Hawaii and that they won’t create a long-term

solution. However again, these actions are a part of the bigger picture and are still necessary to

pursue a permanent end to hunger in our state one day. It may seem as if you aren’t making a

tremendous difference, but if everyone were to take action daily, hunger could be resolved

person by person over time. The service you provide to a small number of people can have a

crucial impact on their day, as they no longer have to stress about where their next meal will

come from.

My solutionary project will be based on a fundraising solution. As I explained earlier in my

essay, children who have siblings who suffer from diseases such as cancer can face hunger

because all their parents’ money and time are being given to the child who needs medical care. I

have a family member who is currently facing this situation. My two-year-old cousin was

diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma cancer over a year ago. Since then, both her parents

have had to completely leave their jobs to attend to her everyday medical needs. They have

found themselves millions of dollars in debt, struggling to support their four kids, while still
covering the baby’s medical bills. To take action, I will be fundraising money to help support my

little cousin and the rest of her family. I will be creating an account on GoFundMe, as well as

other platforms to help raise money to cover costs such as food and meals. People deserve the

basic human right to food, and we can make a change to food insecurity in Hawaii one person at

a time.