#feed my sheep

To foster responsible tourism and strengthen the connection between visitors and Hawai‘i’s natural resources, the Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau launched the Mālama Hawaiʻi initiative in 2020. Visitors can enjoy benefits like special discounts or even a free night’s stay at participating hotels when they give back through these volunteer opportunities.

In August 1999 youth leader Joyce Kawakami accidentally founded a food program when she noticed some of her students were hungry and had no food at home. Despite sneaking groceries to these students to protect their privacy, they shared this act of kindness with other families in need who began coming for help also. Weekly food distributions became a regular part of life for the Kawakami family. Over 25 years Feed My Sheep grew from feeding six families to 350 families every week. 

The nonprofit Feed My Sheep organization has stepped up during the aftermath of Maui’s wildfires to provide food for those experiencing unexpected need. While the organization was already mobilized to serve households at or near the poverty line, the service extended its reach to those displaced by the Maui fires.

The food and supply distribution site at the Lahaina Gateway Center continued service today (Sept. 4) and will operate on Wednesday, Sept. 6, with a reduced selection and quantity of items in preparation for a move to Kahana Gateway later this week.

“Maui nonprofits are a needed support system for our communities,” says Lisa Paulson, Executive Director of the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association. “With the hardships of the recent wildfires, it was crucial to make this hard-earned money available to them immediately.”

County of Maui-facilitated distribution sites will be transitioning locations, times, days and focus, according to an announcement released on Tuesday evening. The sites offer food, water and supplies to people impacted by Maui wildfires. 

A total of $1,215,700 was raised so far from the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association’s Visitor Industry Charity Walk, surpassing the previous year and continuing the 7th year of breaking $1 million for Maui County’s communities.

The Maui County Farm Bureau honored Kai Pelayo, the community affairs manager with Bayer-Maui, as its Member of the Year for 2022.

About 50 sign wavers from the Maui Homeless Alliance lined the Ka‘ahumanu Avenue fronting the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center on Tuesday afternoon to bring attention to issues surrounding homelessness and hunger.

Among the winners were: Heidi Watanabe, Feed My Sheep, Mitzi Toro, Angela Leone, and Ryan Ouye.

The Homeless Alliance organized the sign-waving event in Kahului and Lahaina to mark National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week from Nov. 13-21. The theme of the week is “Everybody Needs A Home.”

Amazon founder and executive chairman, Jeff Bezos reportedly purchased a remote 14-acre oceanfront estate  – 12 miles south of Kīhei – the property surrounded by rocky lava fields and state parkland. 

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos has donated stock valued at over $500,000 to Feed My Sheep, a mobile food pantry serving Maui island-wide.

The Hawaiʻi Chapter of the American Resort Development Association recently donated a total of $5,000 to two non-profit organizations on Maui.

In Phase 2, MUW received 27 applications and was able to fund 13 of them with the funds available. MUW is working to bring in additional resources to support the other nonprofits in need.

Beginning on Monday, Sept. 14, the program received Maui County approval to expand the ground beef purchase program to the island of Molokaʻi to support their ranchers and local harvest facility.

The County has committed $200,000 to support the ranching community, which includes the purchase of cattle from various independent ranchers. DeCoite Packing House will process the cattle into approximately 1,000 pounds of ground beef, per week. Feed My Sheep will receive the ground beef and distribute to qualified individuals, nonprofit agencies and community feeding programs.

Maui nonprofits are receiving 10 paid positions at no cost to help them with administrative, warehouse, landscaping, and labor through June 21, 2020.

The County of Maui matched a $115,000 donation from the Hawai‘i Resilience Fund at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation for COVID-19 relief efforts. The funds will be deployed to nonprofits Feed My Sheep, Hui No Ke Ola Pono, and Maui Food Bank to distribute food on the islands of Maui, Lāna‘i and Moloka‘i.

Mayor Michael Victorino announced a five-week extension of a farmer assistance and food distribution program to help provide food to community organizations that provide food to families and individuals in need.