Hawaii Business Magazine
Care that Keeps on Giving
Kaiser Permanente impacts the health and well-being of the community at large by investing in nonprofits and organizations across the state.
August 2, 2021
The COVID-19 Vaccine Challenge
In the remote Hawaiʻi Island district of Kaʻū, the resources to vaccinate the entire community against COVID-19 were limited. Its community members rightfully became concerned.
“Hilo and Kona are far away for people,” says Jessanie “Auntie Jessie” Marques, executive director of Ka‘u Rural Health, a nonprofit that focuses on health and wellness with programs in health, education, research and economic sustainability.
“We got involved because the community came to us and said, ‘Auntie, who’s going to help us?’” Marques continues. “That’s how we started to coordinate and facilitate this. If Kaiser Permanente hadn’t come, we wouldn’t have it as readily available to our community.”
Why Are More People Than Ever Receiving Food Stamps In Hawaii? civilbeat.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from civilbeat.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hawaii Sees ‘Startling’ Increase In Number Of Children Facing Hunger - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii Sees ‘Startling’ Increase In Number Of Children Facing Hunger
Even as benefits programs expand and school meal programs shift, food insecurity is expected to continue to grow in the islands. Reading time: 7 minutes.
More Hawaii children are at risk of going hungry than ever before, new federal data shows.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Hawaii’s hunger rates were lower than national averages. Today, the Aloha State’s situation is worse than national levels a striking shift, according to local researchers.
“The rates were roughly in the 10% ball park pre-COVID, and they’re close to 50% currently,” said Jack Barile, the interim director of the University of Hawaii Manoa’s Social Science Research Institute. “The majority of people facing food insecurity now are facing it for the first time or in recent history, so that’s kind of startling.”
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Updated 2/16/21, 12:43 p.m.
Hawaii ranked second-to-last in providing school breakfasts to low-income students, but the tide may have shifted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the School Breakfast Scorecard from the Food Research and Action Center, more than 25,000 low-income children in Hawaii took part in the national school breakfast program last school year. That s 40% of all students who received school lunches, which is below the national average of 58%.
However, the report only includes data up to February 2020, when schools across the country closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, the Department of Education started a grab-and-go model at over 200 schools statewide. Free breakfast and lunch are available for children under the age of 18, even if they are not enrolled at the school.