Kaukau 4 Keiki was established in the summer of 2021 as a result of the strong advocacy of First Lady Dawn Ige to address the gap in food access for keiki in Hawaiʻi. This program is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer School Food Services, the Hawaiʻi Child Nutrition Program, and a team of private and public partners- including Vibrant Hawaiʻi. Kaukau 4 Keiki provided free weekly meal kits for breakfasts and lunches during the summer months with a focus on reaching children (Ages 0-18) in rural communities statewide.
During the regular academic year, thousands of students receive free- or reduced-priced meals, but during the summer many schools are unable to continue their meal program due to staffing and logistical challenges. For students living in rural areas, transportation challenges or conflicting family work schedules make the picking up of Department of Education Grab and Go meals difficult.
In an economy that already imports 90% of its food, the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the impact on food insecurity in Hawaiʻi. A recent University of Hawai’i study reported that “an estimated one in three children in Hawai’i live in a food insecure household in 2020.” Therefore, the Kaukau 4 Keiki project provided keiki and teens access to healthy meals, especially in low-income, rural areas across the state. In-state service providers across the state included Mālama Kaua‘i on Kaua‘i, Kahumana Food Hub & Organic Farms on Oʻahu, Maui United Way on Maui and Lānaʻi, and Vibrant Hawaiʻi on Hawaiʻi island. Kualapuʻu Public Charter School led a separate meal program for Molokaʻi students.
Vibrant Hawai’i, in partnership with USDA Food Services, Hawai’i Child Nutrition Program and the County of Hawaiʻi Food Access Coordinator, led Kaukau 4 Keiki on Hawai’i Island for six weeks from June 14 through July 23 across 26 sites Registrations were more than double what was expected and several sites reached maximum capacity within hours, emphasizing a major community need as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. 4,000 keiki picked up weekly meal kits which were designed according to USDA food guidelines and included over 10 pounds of locally sourced fruits and vegetables, bread, shelf stable milk, and protein. There was a purposeful emphasis on incorporating local produce as part of the Summer Food Service Program: a federally-funded, state-administered program that reimbursed Vibrant Hawaiʻi for the meal kits.
4,000
336,000
25
$694,330
736
$177,000
impact on food insecurity
Kaukau 4 Keiki focused on reducing food insecurity during the summer months with a strong emphasis on providing access to locally-grown produce. Families expressed gratitude for the abundance of fruits and vegetables they otherwise might not have been able to afford.
“Kaukau for Keiki food boxes helped ensure we had fresh fruits and vegetables and (we) made nutritious smoothies every week for our Keiki...our children's health is very important to our family and the additional foods helped us to be able to access healthy foods without spending the little money we have.”
Many other families highlighted how important the produce boxes were for their keiki:
“It helped in so many ways, especially having fruits and vegetables for the keiki. Words can’t explain how grateful and thankful we are to receive all the food items given. Most times we have to buy what’s on sale to make ends meet. But with the items given we were able to have fruit and vegetables that we love.”
“We didn’t have to worry between paying a bill or purchasing fresh food for the family.”
“Food security - having keiki home during summer (and during last school year's pandemic) really showed me how much food it takes to feed two active teenage boys. Kaukau 4 Keiki provided healthy, nutritional fresh foods for my boys to eat.”
“It helped my family a lot. As a single mother I have been struggling a little and having that extra made a difference in my household.”
support for alice households
ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The 2018 ALICE Report published by Aloha United Way showed that 31% of households in Hawaiʻi County are ALICE. These working households are above the federal poverty level (and often do not qualify for public assistance programs), but do not earn enough to cover basic survival items, including food.
In evaluating Kaukau 4 Keiki on Hawai’i Island, many parents expressed their gratitude for the meal kits, and shared the impact that the food support .
“This has drastically cut down how much we spend on groceries every week. That has meant so much to us as a working, middle class family, who does not qualify for support like SNAP but yet does not have a lot of money and there's not a lot of money left after we pay all our bills.”
“For a family of 5, we don’t typically qualify for other assistance and this program has helped immensely. The amount of food that it has provided has helped cut our weekly grocery bill allowing us to focus on other needs that have been left unattended due to lack of funds. We are so incredibly thankful and blessed for this program.”
“It provided nutritious food for our family. We cooked meals using things that we usually don’t buy. This allowed for my kids to try new foods. We don’t qualify for any type of financial assistance but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need the support. It was great to be able to participate in this awesome program without factoring in income.”
“This program is such a great success. It has helped us (who under income restrictions would not otherwise qualify) but who are still under the radar just making ends meet. I wish more programs would take that demographic into consideration. It helped our household tremendously during these past few weeks.”
“I had to leave my job this summer due to lack of childcare and Kaukau 4 Keiki was there for us. I really felt supported by the community at a stressful time.”
positive childhood experiences
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire asks (10) Yes/No questions about an individual's life experiences during the first 18 years of life. A study of over 17,000 patients showed that individuals with greater than 4 ACEs were 4x to 12x more likely to develop health risks for alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and suicide attempt, and were 1.4x to 1.6x more likely to suffer from severe obesity. Subsequent research has seen strong predictive correlations between ACEs and lower educational achievement, physical and mental health outcomes, and impact on families, communities and society. The cost to treat the manifestations of ACEs across North America and Europe are estimated at $1.33 trillion a year.
Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) provides a psychometric analysis based on an individual's response to (7) Yes/No questions about their positive experiences before the age of 18. The leading study on the topic states that children with PCEs become adults who are able to seek social and emotional support and learn from those experiences to provide social and emotional support for others. Guided by research that shows how PCEs act as buffer against the health effects of adverse ones, Vibrant Hawai‘i partners with local communities to create PCEs, and supports opportunities that help keiki to thrive despite difficult childhood experiences and/or conditions. The 7 PCEs that the Kaukau for Keiki program provided were:
The opportunity to talk with family/community about feelings or anxieties (i.e., COVID, etc.) at food pick up sites.
The sense that family/community is supportive during difficult times (i.e., COVID).
The enjoyment of participation in community service, events, and traditions.
Feeling a sense of belonging in community spaces.
Feeling supported by friends in the community.
Having at least two non-parent adults who genuinely care.
Feeling safe, protected and provided for by an adult in the home (i.e., regular nutritious meals).
Specifically, participants of the project observed neighbors prepare regular meals for members of their community in a time of crisis, and participant narratives reflect an increased sense of confidence, pride, and the desire to contribute to their community’s sustainability and resilience. For example, parents confirmed the positive impact on their families and shared how the meal kits provided more access to healthy food - it created moments to strengthen families and affirm a sense of kuleana for, and support from the community.
“Besides helping with feeding our children a variety of foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, it also showed our children kindness to others in our community. I think that it is important for our children to learn that we need to reach out and help others, people whom we think may not need the help.”
“We were able to create a stronger bond by picking up the boxes together, making snacks, lunches with the items and adding a variety of fruits and vegetables in our diet that we don’t normally eat.”
“Teaching my children that we are in this together and that our community is a safe and friendly place to be.”
“Kaukau 4 Keiki has been a lifesaver, literally! Being given the opportunity to participate in this wonderful community program has helped me and my ‘ohana enjoy time together and not have to worry so much about how we’re going to put food on the table. Such a beautiful blessing!”
“Kaukau 4 keiki has helped my family by providing healthy foods. It has helped my family bond through making healthy meals together.”
“Kaukau 4 Keiki brought our ʻohana together before, during and after our meals.”
vibrant hawaiʻi waypoints
Our community identified 7 Waypoints that guide our navigation towards a vibrant Hawaiʻi. In 2019, each Waypoint was assessed by a diverse group of stakeholders representing each district of Hawaiʻi Island using a 4-point scale: 4 = Vibrant, 3 = Good, 2 = Bad, 1 = Terrible. All projects and Streams continue to utilize these Waypoints as an indication of where we are in our journey toward a vibrant Hawaiʻi.
Living Aloha: Being in harmony with our ʻāina, community, and ourselves. He ʻike ʻana ia i ka pono. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 620. One has seen the right thing to do and has done it.
Belonging: The result of building relationships to place and people so that we can care for and be cared for by them. ʻIke aku, ʻike mai, kōkua aku, kōkua mai; pēlā iho la ka nohona ʻohana. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 1200. (Family) life requires an exchange of mutual help and recognition.
Get Chance: The establishment of equitable systems that promote choice and prosperity. Kau i Kāpua ka poʻe polohuku ʻole. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 1608. Without resources one gets nowhere.
Get Choice: The determination within a person to take ownership of their future and contribute to collective abundance and wellbeing. "Ua hele aku au me ka manaʻo paʻa. Ua paio aku au me ka manaʻo koa. Ua lanakila au me ka manaʻo pono. Ua mākaukau au me ka manaʻo wiwoʻole." Iosepa Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu
Resilience: The ability of individuals to adapt to change and adversity without being uprooted from their source(s) of wellbeing. E Lēkia e, ʻonia i paʻa. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 334. Make a move to give yourself a secure hold.
Strong ʻOhana: As result of aloha, belonging, chance, choice, and resilience, ʻohana serve as a pillar of support. Hilinaʻi Puna, kālele ia Kaʻū. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 994. Said of one who leans or depends on another.
Thriving Community: The result of creating opportunities that encourage individual and ʻohana contribution towards community driven solutions. Mōhala i ka wai ka maka o ka pua. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 1232. Flowers thrive where there is water, as thriving people are found where living conditions are good.
participant survey results
In the final week of Kaukau 4 Keiki, Vibrant Hawaiʻi sent an online survey to all participating households to measure their experience across each Waypoint. 704 responses were received within 22 days, representing a 47% response rate. In addition to measuring each Waypoint, the survey asked partcipants how the project helped their family, what suggestions they had for future distributions, and provided an opportunity to share messages of mahalo. The full list of responses can be found on our website at www.vibranthawaii.org/k4k2021
WAYPOINT
ripple effects
Community Led Development
Community Led Development (CLD) is defined as a process of working together to create and achieve locally owned vision and goals. It is an approach to development that is focused on building the capacity of community as a system, builds on local strengths (rather than deficits), is collaborative across sectors, and is adaptable.
Global leaders emphasize the value of CLD because it is innately informed by centuries of responses to change and uncertainty within specific local contexts and actively builds upon the capacity to thrive in that context.
Kaukau 4 Keiki provided community leaders an opportunity to grow in their social influence, organizational, and technical capacity. To better understand the impact of the project in this area, we asked site coordinators to measure their development of human and social capital and sense of connection and belonging on a Likert scale from 1-5 (least to most growth). Average response presented below in parenthesis.
What level of positive impact did Kaukau 4 Keiki have on your community? (4.81)
I grew in my ability to coordinate and organize community led initiatives. (3.75)
I grew in my ability to respond to unanticipated challenges and problem solve. (3.75)
I grew in my ability to use online tools to coordinate this project. (3.31)
I am likely to offer to support folks from other Kaukau 4 Keiki Distribution Sites. (3.94)
I am likely to ask for support from folks from other Kaukau 4 Keiki distribution sites. (3.56)
I am likely to connect with other groups in the community for distribution. (3.75)
I am likely to partner with other groups in the community for distribution. (4.00)
To what extent has your participation resulted in a deeper sense of connection and belonging to Hawaiʻi? (4.00)
To what extent has your participation resulted in a deeper sense of purpose and ability to contribute in a meaningful way to shape our community? (4.00)
site coordinator feedback
When asked what they were most proud of, Coordinators responded:
“Serving my communities, partnering with awesome people and watching keiki get into it and be happy about serving.”
“The ability to reach vulnerable children.”
Seeing our youth volunteer teams put money together to buy extra food so we wouldn't need to turn families away as we had more families show up who weren't on the list
Helping families that DO NOT receive other state and federal services
“I am most proud of working with my volunteer youths to help pass out the care packages. They have been my biggest joy. I also enjoyed seeing the reaction of the families that we worked with. “
“Working with other groups to see this summer project through from our personal volunteers to New Hope Church. Also to see the parents' faces and meeting even more families in our community.”
“That we said yes to support Kaukau 4 Keiki and we made it happen for our community.”
“We love sharing food with our community. It has a positive impact on people's lives.”
“Being able to get food to kids in our community who would have otherwise gone without.”
“The resilience to complete the program of nourishing our keiki.”
KAUKAU 4 KEIKI COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation: Build from a foundation of shared values.
The Vibrant Hawaiʻi Grounding Statement provides all project stakeholders with specific examples of how we demonstrate our values. Especially in a project like Kaukau 4 Keiki where diverse stakeholders are coming together in a very short timeline to execute deliverables on a massive scale, it is imperative to not only establish a common understanding of the intent, goals across a timeline, lines of communication, but how to communicate and behave in ways that support the collective effort.
Recommendation: Provide flexible and responsive "no shame" opportunities for training throughout the project.
In the Kaukau 4 Keiki project, several individuals needed one-on-one training to utilize digital tools to assist with meal kit reporting, while others needed instruction and oversight to safely set up the physical site for distribution. There is no way to anticipate the entire scope of training needs at the onset of a project, and project leads should budget for time to provide training during the execution of the project.
Recommendation: Facilitate opportunities for community groups to learn from each other. Mentorship is most effective by connecting community groups to one another This practice amplifies capacity building at the grassroots level, and ensures continuity of skill as it transforms practitioners into instructors. During the project, one community group modified the reporting forms and shared it with other sites, greatly improving the efficiency of data collection and reporting. Another site shared a flow chart to improve traffic flow with another site. We suggest learning from these experiences and scheduling and facilitating opportunities during the project for the community to learn from each other and get feedback.
Recommendation: Design a way to receive feedback during implementation and flexibility to pivot to meet individual community needs. Communities exist within specific and unique contexts, and developing relationships with community members can inform the implementation of the work. In the Kaukau 4 Keiki project, meal kits could be delivered to homes in Kāʻū and Hāmākua neighborhoods with relative ease; whereas in other parts of the island, roads make individual deliveries challenging. Flexibility in program design is essential, and the ability to observe and adapt will provide for a more successful program.
Recommendation: Provide weekly reminders to families.
Many parents relied upon weekly text messages and email reminders to pick up meal kits. Although labor intensive, providing weekly texts and emails ensured that parents were on time to pick up, or had made arrangements for someone else to pick up their kits, resulting in swift distribution at the sites. We recommend budgeting for an email communication plan that support the number of registering families, and a mass text messaging program (e.g.,Textedly).
Recommendation: Schedule at least a 2-hour window for meal kit distribution at sites. Two hours is the minimum time required to efficiently prepare the site, distribute meal kits, and contact any families on the waitlist. Many families missed the pick up window when distribution was limited to one-hour, and most sites needed additional time to coordinate kits for those on the waitlist.
Recommendation: Clearly define partner roles and responsibilities. As expressed in the beginning of this report, Kaukau 4 Keiki was a heroic partnership of private and public sectors, and Vibrant Hawaiʻi relied on a network of Resilience Hubs to pack and distribute meals to 4,000 keiki each week. This required all involved to truly understand and ʻauamo kuleana (to shoulder oneʻs rights, responsibilities and privileges). It means everyone involved must clearly understands their role and contribution to the overall project.
Recommendation: Support (hyper) local.
To limit the impact on roadways and the environment caused by transportation, and in an effort to support as many local farmers as possible, Vibrant Hawaiʻi relied upon coordinators in Kaʻū and Waimea to source and pack produce grown in their region. Logistically, this meant working individually with coordinators to quickly get up to speed on USDA requirements and invoicing procedures. The result of these efforts, however, far outweigh the extra administrative work. By allowing communities to source locally, we return to the ahupuaʻa model that provided sustainability and abundance across Hawaiʻi.
Recommendation: Allow for flexible funding.
It is important to allocate 5-15% for discretionary funds to provide for legitimate program needs that were originally unaccounted for. One site needed a prepaid cell phone to call and text waitlisted families to pick up remaining meal kits. Other sites chose to personally purchase additional foods items, essentially removing all families from the waitlist.
Recommendation: Hawai‘i’s geography requires more coordination time.
The State of Hawaiʻi imports approximately 90% of its food and the networks of distribution are further complicated by supply and demand challenges associated with COVID-19. Food distribution companies need ample lead time to order bulk items. This summer, Hawaiʻi Foodservice Alliance, LLC leveraged their close relationship with Costco to provide enough canned proteins and milk for the program because there was not enough time to purchase from larger, national distribution centers who are all experiencing delayed shipping.
Recommendation: Collect and share messages of thanks from families during the program. A significant amount of energy and time was required of our partners to successfully execute this program. The site coordinators and food distribution partners were energized and greatly appreciated hearing the many messages of mahalo (thanks) during the program. We recommend collecting these “mahalo bombs” weekly and sharing with all partners so those involved can see the impact of their work immediately.
cknowledgements
he success of Kaukau 4 Keiki was made possible rough the contribution from the following individuals, oups, organizations, and communities who gave of their nancial, social, human, and natural capital. Mahalo nui a to each one for your time, energy, talents and sources. A special mahalo to First Lady, Dawn Ige for our commitment to Hawaiʻi’s keiki and for your strong dvocacy to establish the USDA Summer Food Service ogram this year.
nancial Sponsors
o Kid Hungry
he Kirk-Landry Charitable Fund
ouncilwoman Heather Kimball, County of Hawaiʻi,
ouncil District 1
holesale Supplies and Distributors
awaiʻi Foodservice Alliance, Inc: Chad Buck, Caryn Yee, mo Agliam, and the entire team
awaiʻi Paper Products: Mei-Lin Gorman
lo Products Inc.: Brandon Bartolome
PM Building Supply: Darryl Oliveira
anekoa's Imu and Catering: Chef Jayson Kanekoa
Kaʻū Kākou: Katie Graham, Michelle Galimba and Felix arra
Puna | Arts & Sciences Center, McLean Eames | Cooper Center Community Pantry, Victoria Gardner | Hawaiian Acres Community Center, Shannon Matson | Leilani
Ka’ū | Kaʻū Elementary and High School, Sharon Beck | Nāʻālehu Resilience Hub, Michelle Galimba and Felix Ibarra | Pāhala Resilience Food Hub, Katie Graham
Kona | Hawaiʻi Community College Palamanui, George Paleudis, Bethany Jacqueline Kiley, and Kalei Haleamau-Kam | Kamaʻāina Hale, Summer Butinardo | Konawaena Elementary, Richelle Tagawa and Jeanne Kapela | Miloliʻi Kalanihale, Kaimi Kaupiko | New Hope Legacy Kona, James Begley
Kohala | Hāmākua-Kohala Health Center, Debra Toledo-Ebreo
Kawaihae | Kailapa Community Association, Kealiʻi Freitas
Waikoloa | New Hope Waikoloa, Lynn Cabuag Pupuhi
Waimea | Annunciation Community Food Pantry, Maile Lincoln | New Hope
Waimea, Laurie Ainslie and Lauren Avery
Hāmākua | Hāmākua Youth Center, Mahealani Maikui and Jeanette Soon Ludes | Pōhāhā I Ka Lani - Kūlia Tolentino-Potter
local farms
Hawaiʻi Island | A&T Belmes Farm | ʻAnoʻano Farm | Aina & Company | Ancient Valley
Growers | Annie Ridgely | Best Farm | Crooked C Ranch | Hawai’i Farming | Hirayama Farms | James Akau | Johnson Family Farm | Ka'ili Mali'e Farms | Kane
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