HONOLULU (KHON2) — With SNAP and other federal food assistance programs set to be suspended on Saturday, the demand for food assistance from other organizations is quickly growing.
“We hit the 800 to 850 range back in August,” said Martha Balkin, Coordinator for Central Union Church’s Serving Aloha program, on the amount of households Serving Aloha supplies for, “We just anticipate as more and more people are not getting paid, it’s more and more people may be losing benefits that more and more people are going to need help.”
Serving Aloha gets its supplies from Hawaii Foodbank, who say that they’re preparing for a much busier month.
“When people ask me, ‘How can I help?’ What can I do? What do you need?’ I direct them to the food bank,” said Balkin. “Make a donation to the food bank because the need is island-wide.”
“We have been ordering additional containers to come in,” said Jared Kawatani, Health and Nutrition Access Manager for Hawaii Foodbank. We’re expecting to have at least 17 additional containers that’s about 500 thousand additional meals.”
Central Union Church handed out thousands of groceries on Wednesday afternoon.
“Whatever people can do to help, that’s really appreciated. For every dollar that’s donated, you can help provide two meals,” said Kawatani. “Which is five times as much as anything you might be able to buy in a grocery store.”
Additionally, Governor Josh Green announced the launch of the Hawaii Relief Program, where families can apply for up to four months of help to pay for housing and utilities.
The hope is that the money saved on housing and utilities can go towards paying for groceries.
“To qualify, a family must have at least one dependent child under the age of 18 and be experiencing a financial crisis such as a furlough, layoff, medical emergency, or other unexpected hardship, such as losing your SNAP benefit,” said Joseph Campos II, Deputy Director of the Department of Human Services, in a video statement.
Applications, or further information and eligibility details, can be found on the respective website of your island.