Why Helping Hale Kau Kau this Fund-Raising Campaign is Awesome for Maui

A Maui nonprofit organization that has provided prepared meals for homebound and needy local residents for over 10,000 consecutive days has gotten creative for its largest annual fund-raiser ~ and it seeks support from the community it serves.

Due to pandemic restrictions on large crowds, Hale Kau Kau has gone online for its Season of Hope 2021 campaign ~ and with it added some twists. This isn’t your ordinary, telethon- or live auction-like fund-raiser.

In a neat arrangement where one donor helps other donors, anyone who gives online qualifies for a number of gifts given by others in the community.

This year, make a donation, and you might end up with one of the following:

• Handmade solid mahogany paddle for paddle boarding.
• Numerous gift certificates for many local markets, stores, and restaurants.
• Gift certificates for tours.
• High-quality sunglasses.
• Quilts specially made by local quilters.
• Custom, handmade rosary, made with semi-precious stone beads.

And that’s just to date. More items in lieu of cash donations are expected from leading local businesses and individuals, as the campaign gains momentum from its kickoff this week.

“The challenges of the past year significantly increased the number of hungry in our community,” says the campaign’s web page. “This means that we look to you, our friends and supporters to help even more.”

Hale Kau Kau is among a short list of nonprofit organizations on Maui that rather quietly forges ahead, day after day, to provide needed meals to people who can’t leave their home, for those short on cash for the month, or individuals who are just plain down on their luck.

I know. I’ve seen a lot of Hale Kau Kau ~ and its wonderful volunteers ~ in action since last summer.

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Right before I moved to Maui, I was volunteering about 20 hours weekly to a nonprofit in Southern California that served low-income and homeless individuals. Much like Hale Kau Kau, Christian Outreach in Action provided hot meals on a daily basis, but twice a day. Based in Long Beach, Calif., COA also provides other services too, pretty much every day of the week.

It's much like Hale Kau Kau, which has provided the suppertime meals every single day, holidays included, for 3 decades now. That’s a lot of meals ~ estimated to be over 1.5 million meals, in fact.

I became aware of their services at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Kihei through a few personal struggles and misfortunes starting last mid-summer. In a new relationship and kind of stuck in a new land due to all the pandemic restrictions (and constant changes), I discovered the meal service as an opportunity to give myself a “time out” when frustrated or agitated.

I found excellent meals in huge portions, always with a juice or milk, great dessert, and smiles from the serving volunteers. It was a lot like what COA does, but at a smaller and a bit more personal scale. Long Beach, after all, is a city of about a half a million people and COA is among the very few nonprofits doing what it does there. A lot more people crowd its meal services.

Still, Hale Kau Kau is a gem on this island. I bet most locals are unaware of exactly what they do ~ which I’ll explain more below. All I know is, whenever I find myself in Kihei any late afternoon, I know I can get to the church for a nice meal with an entree, salad, starch, dessert and drink, on convenient picnic tables in a relaxing church setting.

Let’s face it, I’m a guy. I know I’ll always get greens and fruits and vegetables at St. Theresa’s, which I probably otherwise would skip over.

So I started there for mental health break reasons, and I keep going periodically for healthier eating. And to watch some amazing volunteers and staffers serve so very many people, every single day, often without being thanked enough.

Put it this way: I stopped by on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and the meals were served. Rain, storms, brutal winds, big holidays, it doesn’t matter. Those who need meals get them every day from Hale Kau Kau and its volunteers.

How to Help

Hale Kau Kau points out that the following contribution levels can result in these benefits:

• $5,000 ~ Provides an estimated 835 meals for local homebound residents ~ or about 13 days of meals.
• $2,500 ~ Provides protein in the form of meat or fish to make 500 meals for those served.
• $1,000 ~ Provides 500 lbs. Of vegetables to add to the organization’s homebound and on-site meals.
• $500 ~ Provides 83 meals to the hungry in Maui.
• $250 ~ Covers the cost of containers to serve 10 days worth of meals to local homebound residents.
• $100 ~ Provides 100 lbs. Of salad for meals.
• $50 ~ Provides 100 lbs. Of rice, a main staple of the meals provided.
• Any amount donated goes directly to the organization for volunteers to prepare and provide meals.

Donors this year become eligible to receive one of many items generously donated for the campaign by local “givers.”

To Donate: https://www.osvhub.com/saint-theresa/funds/hale-kau-kau-fundraiser-season-of-hope

Info: halekaukau.org

On any given day, Hale Kau Kau prepares and provides 75 meals for homebound Maui residents, and another 40 to 60 meals served to anyone visiting St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, no questions asked. Hale Kau Kau also coordinates with other churches on-island, such as delivery of meals to Family Life Center in Kahului twice a week, and to support the ministry of Keolahou Congregational Hawaiian Church in Kihei.

For 30 years now, the nonprofit has never missed a single day of service. Its mission is simply to feed the hungry on Maui.