{"id":173948,"date":"2023-03-13T11:13:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T21:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=173948"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:13:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T21:13:48","slug":"state-employees-food-drive-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/03\/13\/state-employees-food-drive-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr>, Lt<\/abbr>. Gov<\/abbr>. Luke launch state employees\u2019 food drive"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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UH<\/abbr> President David Lassner, Lt<\/abbr>. Gov<\/abbr>. Sylvia Luke and UH<\/abbr> baseball Head Coach Rich Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 24th Annual State Employees\u2019 Food Drive launched March 10 at a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa Rainbow Warrior baseball<\/a> game, led by Lt<\/abbr>. Gov<\/abbr>. and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa alumna Sylvia Luke<\/strong>, in partnership with the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foodbank, UH<\/abbr>, UH<\/abbr> Athletics<\/a> and the Rainbow Warrior baseball team. The food drive, co-chaired by Luke and Second Gentleman and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa alumnus Michael Luke<\/strong>, will run from March 10 to May 19, accepting monetary and food donations to reduce food insecurity across Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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The State Employees\u2019 Food Drive was first launched in 1999 and is held annually for state employees to support eliminating food insecurity in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s communities. Over two decades of championing the annual food drive, state employees have contributed more than $3 million and 1.7 million pounds of food to the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foodbank.<\/p>\n

The goal for this year\u2019s food drive is to raise $150,000 and 70,000 pounds of food. Luke is honored to lead this year\u2019s food drive and support the partnership between state employees and the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foodbank.<\/p>\n

“As the Foodbank\u2019s largest coalition, state employees have a tremendous opportunity to raise funds and reach out to their networks so we can feed Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s families,” Luke said. “Food insecurity is a public health issue, and it will take all of us working together to make an impact for our communities.”<\/p>\n

As one of the state\u2019s largest entities, UH<\/abbr> is a significant contributor to the food drive, raising $70,000 in 2022. UH<\/abbr> President David Lassner<\/strong> is a strong proponent of the food drive and sees the impacts of food insecurity in the UH<\/abbr> community.<\/p>\n

“We administered a national survey to our students across all 10 campuses across the islands and we found some 38% of our students experienced food insecurity in the last 30 days, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re so proud to participate in the food drive each and every year,” Lassner said. “I\u2019m really happy that we could kick-off the drive here today at Rainbow Warrior baseball, the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is consistently one of the strongest contributors to the State\u2019s Food Drive each and every year. This is a great way to get our students and our fans in understanding the importance of food security for everyone in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> Athletics and the Rainbow Warrior baseball team will continue to support the food drive as partners. Head Baseball Coach Rich Hill<\/strong> said, “To have an opportunity to represent Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foodbank and this great cause, it gives me chicken skin; and that\u2019s what it\u2019s really about, in higher education, to make an impact on these young people. And we couldn\u2019t be prouder to host this event tonight.”<\/p>\n

This year, approximately 1 in 6 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> residents will experience food insecurity, including 1 in 4 children. While this issue impacts people of all ages, keiki are most affected with Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> currently holding the second highest rate of child food insecurity throughout the nation.<\/p>\n

“It is more critical than ever; there is a hunger cliff coming,” said Laura Kay Rand<\/strong>, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa alumna and vice president and chief impact officer of the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foodbank, which is Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s leading hunger-relief organization. “The last portion of the emergency [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefit is being mailed out next week, but the need has not gone down. We are still serving 1 in 6 people who are facing hunger, food insecurity. We just need to stand in the gap.”<\/p>\n

Anyone can support the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foodbank and the State Employees\u2019 Food Drive. To make a contribution or learn more, visit this website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As one of the state\u2019s largest entities, UH<\/abbr> is a significant contributor to the food drive, raising $70,000 in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[58,1491,9,550,947],"class_list":["post-173948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-uh-manoa","tag-manoa-athletics","tag-uh-system","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t