Chelstine “Kauʻi” Tavares, a University of �鶹��ý–West Oʻahu sophomore, and Norinna-Lynne Ili, a part-time student and full-time secretary, used to go hungry. Ili was accustomed to surviving busy days on “nothing but cough drops and free coffee.”

Both initially hesitated to ask for support. However, today they rely on the campus’ , to stock up on necessities on food distribution days, or from the Pueo Pantry. The growing need in the campus community is evident. About halfway through the current academic year (August 2025 to February 2026), the campus had distributed 7,915 pounds of food to 900 students.

“Having access to the pantry and the clothing closet means everything to me and my family,” said Ili. “With our rent going up, our budget is already stretched thin. So, it really makes a difference and it helps relieve a lot of stress.”

More than food

Kumu Ola also provides essential hygiene/menstrual products, loaner laptops/Wi-Fi hotspots, and free attire through the Pueo Closet.

Tavares, who now works as a student assistant for Kumu Ola, has empathy for distressed students.

Read more UH Giving Day stories

“Many students initially feel a sense of shame when admitting they need help,” Tavares said. “But over time, they realize this food is for them, and they open up about their struggles. Seeing their gratitude when they realize they can feed their families is amazing.”

Helping students succeed

Kumu Ola addresses rising student food insecurity and financial instability, while also supporting the development and sustainment of a campus-wide basic needs support system so no member of the UH West Oʻahu campus community has to choose between opportunity and stability.

“Drawing from my own experience as a student, there is tremendous satisfaction in helping our students remain on campus and achieve success,” said Kumu Ola Chair Loea Akiona. “We believe no student should have to choose between their education and their well-being.”

Donor support for the this ensures these resources remain available, allowing our community to thrive. .

In an era of rising grocery costs, eggs remain one of the most accessible and complete protein sources for families. New research from the University of �鶹��ý at ��ā�ԴDz�’s (CTAHR) is investigating how chickens age to help keep that high-quality protein on dinner tables. The study, published in , found that as laying hens age, significant changes occur in their gut health that negatively affect egg production.

Productivity gap

At their peak, up to 97% of high-performing hens lay eggs. But by 100 weeks, that number can drop to 70% or 75%. While a 75% success rate sounds high, it represents a major economic drain across the industry.

“A farmer is losing roughly 20–22% eggs, but still providing expensive feed to the chickens. We are trying to minimize those costs to help farmers survive financially,” said Md Ahosanul Haque Shahid, a PhD student in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences and the study’s lead author.

Starts in the gut

Working in the laboratory of UH Associate Professor Birendra Mishra, Shahid’s research focuses on the community of microorganisms living in the chicken’s digestive tract.

Older hens appear to prioritize survival and physiological maintenance over reproductive output. As the chickens age, their bodies stop producing the natural chemicals and enzymes needed to break down food effectively.

As hens get older, the “instructions” in their DNA that manage nutrition and immunity begin to fade. This causes the lining of their gut to weaken—a condition known as “leaky gut”—which allows vital nutrients to escape. Because these nutrients aren’t being absorbed properly, the hen’s body doesn’t have enough energy to send to its reproductive system. Without that steady fuel supply, the hen simply cannot produce as many eggs as she used to.

Local impact, global reach

The study utilized chickens sourced from local �鶹��ý farms, meaning the findings are specifically relevant to the islands’ unique environmental conditions.

However, the implications are global. As further molecular investigation is still going, by identifying the specific genes and molecular pathways that change with age, the researchers hope to develop new “nutrient strategies” and management protocols that can boost production by even 1% or 2%.

“That 2% makes a huge difference because you’re talking about tens of thousands of chickens,” Shahid said. “It’s a tremendous amount of affordable protein that can feed thousands of families.”

University of �鶹��ý leaders, alongside more than 180 representatives from government, private sectors, and community organizations, gathered for the 4th annual on December 8 and 9 to explore strategies to build a stronger, more accessible and disaster-resilient food system.

The UH Ke Ō Mau Center, its priority food system planning initiative (THFST), and affiliated faculty played a central role in sponsoring and organizing the event, and in guiding key discussions on planning, community education, and research. This work involves partners across the UH System, including UH West Oʻahu, UH System’s Ke Ō Mau Center for Sustainable Island Food Systems, UH ����ԴDz�’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR), Leeward Community College and Kapiʻolani Community College. CTAHR Dean Parwider Grewal, UH West Oʻahu’s Albie Miles and UH ����ԴDz�’s Noa Lincoln hosted a dedicated session on developing a collaborative research agenda to advance food system resilience in �鶹��ý.

“Food system resilience is the capacity to absorb, adapt to, and recover from disruptions while ensuring equitable access to nutritious food,” said Miles, associate professor of Sustainable Community Food Systems. “It depends not only on physical assets like storage and supply chains, but also on strong social infrastructure — the relationships, networks, institutions, trust and coordination. The 2025 Food System Summit was designed to help build this essential social infrastructure.”

A led by UH researchers reveals a critical gap in disaster readiness across �鶹��ý, with only 12% of households meeting the State of �鶹��ý‘s recommended levels of emergency stockpiling of food, water and essential medicine. This low compliance signals significant vulnerability should a major supply–chain disruption or other disaster occur.

This year’s summit focused on preparedness came at a critical time for the state. Held at the Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center, the event centered on, “Food System Resilience and Disaster Preparedness.” Panels and showcases offered frontline perspectives, including lessons learned from the Lāhainā wildfires and the Oʻahu Feeding Task Force. Discussions highlighted new developments and challenges in state-level planning and policy, emergency food distribution and opportunities to strengthen local production and shelf-stable emergency food availability.

The summit emphasized that building a disaster-ready food system requires awareness, planning, coordinated action, sustained investment and shared responsibility, noting that �鶹��ý has the expertise and community leadership to make it a reality.

A fruitful collaboration between the University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz� (CTAHR) and the County of Maui is empowering people on Molokaʻi to grow their own food, lower grocery bills and build community resilience.

The Seed to Harvest program, led by CTAHR’s team of extension agents on Molokaʻi, finished its third cohort in December, with each group growing between 300 and 400 pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. Funded by a grant from the County of Maui’s Department of Agriculture, the program addresses food inequity and the high cost of imported goods by teaching residents how to cultivate sustainable home gardens.

Extension agents Kyle Franks and Jennifer Hawkins designed Seed to Harvest with an emphasis on using on-island resources to reduce reliance on expensive imports. The program creates a complete cycle of education, teaching people the skills to propagate seeds, manage pests and harvest their crops.

“There’s been several generations not farming, not gardening, and so we wanted to help bring that back into the community,” said Franks. “The pandemic highlighted the level of food inequity across the island.”

For Kanoelani Dudoit, a lifelong Molokaʻi resident, the experience has been transformative. “It opened more avenues for each person to apply what they learned from the workshop right at home,” said Dudoit. She noted that the program helped her identify local stores, local prices, local items, allowing her family to “cut costs or reuse what we have here. That’s a major benefit for our community.”

Harvest to market

In early 2026, the team will launch Harvest to Market, a new program designed to teach home gardeners the business side of agriculture. The upcoming curriculum will cover marketing and branding, turning raw produce into jams, jellies, or freeze-dried goods that can be sold at farmer’s markets, and following state rules for selling produce and processed foods.

“Our growers are doing a great job, but now they have excess,” said Hawkins. “So the next step is helping them get their produce to market.”

Volunteers make it possible for (FVH) to hold its monthly Food Drop at Campus Center, distributing about 8,000 pounds of food each second Wednesday of the academic year.Housed within the University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz�’s (SILD) unit, FVH continues to play a key role in assisting UH ����ԴDz� students experiencing food insecurity.

Bonnyjean Manini, SILD director, said volunteers are critical to help receive, sort, and distribute food at monthly Food Drop events. The items are provided through partnerships with the �鶹��ý Foodbank and the �鶹��ý Health & Harm Reduction Center.

“They exemplify the qualities of empathy, responsiveness, commitment and are fearless of the physical labor involved with the work of helping provide food to those in need but often go unacknowledged,” she said. “Their unconditional assistance makes these events possible.”

Finding joy in helping others

Richard Bradshaw, one of FVH’s longest-serving volunteers and a former religion instructor, said he returns each month for a simple reason: helping others brings joy.

“I think helping others with an open heart and non-judgmentally enables me to doubly enjoy giving,” he said. “Making people happy is the best way to make yourself happy.”

His own experiences as a college student gives him perspective on the challenges many students face today. He recalled comforting a student he knew who felt embarrassed to see him at the Food Drop, an interaction that underscored how food insecurity can affect a student’s sense of dignity.

“I deeply understood how she felt and did everything I could to ease her feelings,” he said.

Connecting through food and knowledge

Lara Hackney is an instructor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition program in the .

She began volunteering with FVH in 2019 through her involvement with The Coalition to Stop Campus Hunger. After the pandemic, she returned and has volunteered consistently since.

“I hope they [students/UH community] feel that FVH is a safe place where they can find something that helps when times are challenging,” she said.

A new volunteer inspired to give back

For third-year physics major Stephen Wagner, volunteering began as part of his Mortar Board service project but quickly took on deeper meaning. With past experience at food banks on �鶹��ý Island, he recognized how essential FVH is—especially after learning that 84% of the 268 participants at a recent Food Drop identified as UH ����ԴDz� students.

“Seeing the pallets of food empty as people came through made the impact very tangible,” he said. “I hope students feel secure and welcome when they come to the Food Drop.”

He encourages others to volunteer as well. “Community is especially important in these uncertain times, and lifting each other up makes for a strong community.”

How to support FVH

FVH will hold its next Food Drop on December 10, at the Campus Center Courtyard, beginning at noon while supplies last. Its Holiday Drive to help stock its pantry in Hemenway Hall runs through January 2, and the UH community is encouraged to donate non-perishable food items and toiletries at the SLD office in Campus Center Room 208, Monday—Friday, 9 a.m.—4 p.m. (except holidays and weekends).

Monetary donations to support Food Vault �鶹��ý can be made through the . For updates, pantry information and volunteer opportunities, follow FVH on or email fvh@hawaii.edu.

UH Basic Needs Fund

If you’re a UH ����ԴDz� student facing an unexpected hardship, the UH ����ԴDz� Student Basic Needs fund offers one-time emergency grants to help you stay on track. Apply or give your support here.

The University of �鶹��ý is leading global scholarship on food system transformation with the completion of a major open access e-book, , published in .

The research topic brings together 29 peer-reviewed articles from more than 150 scholars across the globe, exploring how food systems influence at least 16 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The research findings are particularly relevant in �鶹��ý, where , , and highlight the urgent need for integrated agri-food system research, education, planning and policy strategies.

“The publication of this research topic and its open access e-book marks a significant milestone in advancing the science and practice of food-system transformation toward the UN SDGs,” said Albie Miles, associate professor of sustainable food systems at UH West Oʻahu and the project’s leader. “We hope the collection will support progress toward a more equitable, sustainable and resilient food system in �鶹��ý and around the world.”

The collection was co-edited by Miles and Travis Idol, professor at UH ����ԴDz�’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience. They worked alongside an international editorial team.

Important UH contributions include an article that develops a for monitoring food security indicators to measure progress toward SDG 2: Zero Hunger. Another article documents the need for a (NCOP) for food-system planning and implementation that directly informed the creation of the NCOP now underway at the .

As an open access e-book, the full collection is freely available to researchers, educators, policymakers, and community leaders worldwide.

The University of �鶹��ý is a key partner in the new Central Oʻahu Agriculture and Food Hub that broke ground in Wahiawā on November 14. Led by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) and the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC), the project brings together the UH Mānoa (CTAHR) and the UH Community College System with other state agencies.

“The food hub is an important step on the path to �鶹��ý’s food self-sufficiency and we are honored to contribute,” said CTAHR Dean Parwinder Grewal. “It will be helping farmers and entrepreneurs manufacture their innovative food products from local fruits, vegetables, and proteins.”

The Whitmore Village complex will serve as an innovation base to provide manufacturing and industry services at a commercial scale, boost local food sustainability, and enable local entrepreneurs to export globally.

“From Kona to Kekaha, and Hilo to Hāna, the Food and Product Innovation Network can strengthen �鶹��ý’s local food systems and economy for generations to come,” said Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz.

Other partners in the complex include the �鶹��ý Department of Education (HIDOE) and the Department of Law Enforcement.

As part of the complex in Whitmore Village, HIDOE is constructing a Central Oʻahu Regional Kitchen on ADC–owned land. The facility will serve as a statewide model for regional hubs that connect local farms to school cafeterias as part of the state’s farm–to–school initiative.

First Lady Jaime Kanani Green noted how the Central Oʻahu Agriculture and Food Hub and HIDOE kitchen concepts will provide healthy affordable meals to all public school students.

Aspiring filmmakers are invited to submit a short film pitch for the Sustainability Pitch and Media Competition 2025. Hosted by the University of �鶹��ý System Office of Sustainability and the UH ����ԴDz� , this year’s theme is Local Food Production and Consumption.

The competition encourages filmmakers to turn their creativity into impact by using storytelling skills to pitch eye-catching short films that do good for the planet. Three pitches will be chosen. Winning pitches will earn $200 each. Those produced within the academic year will earn an additional $800.

online. Submissions are due November 20, at 11:55 p.m.

Application requirements

• Written pitch for a short film between 15 seconds and 2 minutes long.
• A written description of your idea (100–300 words max).
• A single PDF (4–8 images) showing your concept, visual style, and story progression.
• Pitches must be original (no overlap with class assignments).

Pitches will be judged by community professionals, and finished films will be shared with the UH community and beyond.

For more information, contact Associate Professor Laura Margulies at lmarguli@hawaii.edu.

Leeward Community College continued its dedication to the West and Central Oʻahu communities on November 9, transforming its campus into a distribution center for essential resources in partnership with the �鶹��ý Foodbank. The mobilization successfully served 1,100 households, exceeding the initial goal of 1,000 households.

The event highlighted Leeward CC‘s role as a key regional institution, bringing together staff, students and leaders, including �鶹��ý Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who all worked to ensure efficient distribution.

“This is our kuleana (responsibility) in action,” said Chancellor Carlos Peñaloza. “The mission of a community college is to be responsive to the immediate needs of its people. We are not just in the community; we are the community. Opening our campus as a point of distribution and seeing our staff, students and leaders like the lieutenant governor working side-by-side is the most powerful lesson we can offer. We are proud to be an anchor institution that can mobilize with incredible partners like the �鶹��ý Foodbank to provide this critical support.”

The collaborative spirit was evident throughout the day. Will Castillo, senior coordinator for Leeward CC’s Office of Workforce Development, volunteered at the event alongside his daughter and reflected on the significance of their collective action.

Castillo said, “This is what Leeward is all about, coming together to uplift and support our community when it matters most.”

Volunteer Emma Collo, a Miss Chinatown princess, added, “Seeing the gratitude on families’ faces reminded us why this work matters, and we encourage everyone to consider volunteering. The foodbank always needs extra hands.”

Windward Community College partnered with the �鶹��ý Foodbank to host a pop-up food distribution event that provided groceries and fresh produce to an estimated 500 families on the windward side of Oʻahu. The November 5 event was held to support families impacted by the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Held at the Hale ʻĀkoakoa parking lot, the effort brought together students, faculty, staff, and campus and community leaders.

“It feels nice giving back to the community that I’ve always been a part of,” said Alika Kanahele, a Windward CC student volunteer. “Being able to directly help people I’ve seen around is really fulfilling.”

Urgent need

Among the volunteers was U.S. Sen. Tokuda, a Kāneʻohe native, who noted the urgency of the need.

“First of all, a big mahalo to Windward Community College for opening up this campus. We can see the need—literally—the cars all stacked up,” she said. “The Foodbank joining up with Windward CC to meet needs and help feed hungry people in our community means so much to me, so I’m very grateful for all the volunteers, the Foodbank, and everyone who made today possible.”

The event was co-coordinated by State Rep. Lisa Kitagawa.

“I reached out to the Foodbank because I know there is such a need in our community due to the government shutdown,” Kitagawa said. “We’re so grateful that Windward CC stepped up to be a host, and that the Foodbank came out to the windward side. At least 500 families will get fed today, which is so awesome.”

The pop-up was part of the �鶹��ý Foodbank’s Emergency Food Assistance Program, a statewide effort to support affected individuals and families.

“A community college has to be centered in its community, and this is exactly the kind of outreach we’re honored to provide,” said Chancellor Ardis Eschenberg. “We’re grateful to Sen. Tokuda, Rep. Kitagawa, the �鶹��ý Foodbank, and all of the volunteers who came out today to ensure that everyone in our community has something to eat during this difficult time.”

Leeward CC is hosting a pop-up distribution on November 9. To register and for information about future distributions, visit .