We Love Hawaii

Food Project
BY: SHAWN MARKS

https://www.welovehawaii.org
 Driving Question
How can I supply healthy food to families unemployed due to the Coronavirus?

• Maui had one of the country’s highest unemployment rates during the height of
the pandemic
• Drove down South Kihei Road and looked at the empty road and closed shops
• Asked myself how I could help
• Subsequently created the We Love Hawaii food project
 My Mentor(s)
• Gary Marks
• Worked beside me throughout the project
• Why did I put (s)?
• Takes lots of people to run a big project
can never be done by one person
• Ask for help
 Kamilah Stevenson
Argumentative Essay
• What’s an argumentative essay?
• Argued two claims:
• Small businesses are essential for the
growth of communities
• A healthy diet is more important than
people think
• It was essential that I provided a
counterargument
• Large corporations are important. Not
better or a replacement for small
businesses
• Healthy diet won’t fix your health
problems. Not “one-size-fits-all”
• I wanted to support local small businesses
with my project
• Essential that food we provided was
healthy
 A Few Things
• Family-run NPO (Non-Profit-Organization)
• Run wholly on donations from various sources
• Partnered with Hawaiian Moons to supply
groceries to families unemployed by the
Coronavirus
• Families sign up through our website so we can
give them $100 of groceries with a 15% discount
• Funding
• Friends and family started at ($15,000)
• GoFundMe ($2,000)
• MA Center ($1000)
• Random ($13,000)
• Fed over 300 families so far. 100 more with
current funding
Project Vision and Proposal
• My vision was different than my final
project
• Happens a lot with projects like these, and
it may happen with yours.
• Delivery
• Fundraising
• Calling and emailing
• My dad and I created a system that
handles these issues
Project Process Phase 1
• Developed idea in late July
• Simple idea but hard to execute. Our main
questions we wanted answered was:
• Supplier
• What is the food?
• Delivery/Distribution
• Tried to connect with Maui Food Bank
(partner or buy)
• Called Embracing the World for 5013C to
save time
• They donated $500 (first donation)
• Initial idea was to use Instacart or buy from a
supermarket
• Food list
Project Process Phase 2
• Finalized plan to distribute groceries
with Hawaiian Moons
• Sign up with WLH website.
Name gets written down on a
spreadsheet. Family can come
shop the next day
• Gets $100 of credit with a 15%
discount
• Connected with KCS
• DOE permissions
(confidentiality)
• Survey on Google Forms
• Revised plan
Project Process Phase 3
• Got trained by fellow volunteer to use call script
• Officially sent out email to Kihei Charter
• Over 40 responses in the first 2 days
• Failed to partner with PCNC of Kihei
Elementary
• GoFundMe
• Zoom Podcast
• Not only about WLH
• Discussed Covid-19 and how it’s affecting
everyone’s lives
• Maui News
Project Reflection

• It was a challenge to remain open to change (initial idea)

• Skills gained and improved:
• Communication Skills (change depending on the person)
• Interpersonal Skills (teammate to other volunteers)
• Financial, Economic, and Business Literacy
• Civic Literacy and Engagement (Community Service, making an impact)
• Complications:
• Delivering
• Supplying groceries at first
• Connecting with schools
 People are starting to find work again but may still be
struggling

We want to make sure that they can get back on their feet

The Future Expanding our parameters

If your family was having trouble during these challenging

times, please sign up at our website.

https://www.welovehawaii.org
 • Dad, mom, sister
• Volunteers
• Hawaiian Moons (Phil, Kristyn, Chelly)
Acknowledgments
• Mrs. Federoff
• Mary Beecher (volunteer bookkeeper)
• You guys