Nareit Hawaiʻi donates $20,000 to support healthy meals program for children

Nareit Hawaiʻi donated $20,000 to support the Maui Food Bank’s Aloha BackPack Buddies program, which provides healthy meals to students in need of hunger relief.

In 2022, the program will serve 21 schools on Maui and Molokaʻi. About 15,000 backpacks containing six healthy meals each, for a total of more than 90,000 meals, will be distributed to children in need.

“Thank you so much to Nareit Hawaiʻi for helping to feed the hungry in Maui County,” said Marlene Rice, development director for Maui Food Bank.

The Maui Food Bank is Maui County’s primary safety net for providing safe and nutritious food to those struggling with food scarcity. Currently, the food bank serves 12,700 people a month who may not know where their next meal is coming from, including those living in the county’s most remote areas, like Hāna, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.

Nareit Hawaiʻi Executive Director Gladys Quinto Marrone said the donation was made on behalf of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in Hawaiʻi during the celebration of the holidays to help provide meals for keiki in 2022. REITs are long-term property holders that own, renovate and manage affordable housing projects, commercial buildings, medical facilities, shopping centers, cell phone towers, public storage facilities and hotels.