FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Debra Johnson, Maui Community Food Bank, 808-877-4357 or info@mauifood.org

A&B FOUNDATION STEPS UP TO FILL EMPTY CUPBOARD AT MAUI FOOD BANK
Responds to Emergency Need

KAHULUI, HAWAII – July 19, 2004 – In response to the call for urgent supplies of food to feed hungry Maui County residents, the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation has stepped forward to provide the Maui Community Food Bank with the food it needs to bridge a short-term gap in contributions.  “A&B heard the Food Bank’s appeal for food, and quickly decided to help, recognizing that it was a short-term problem facing this fine organization that provides a key service to our community," said A&B Foundation Chair Meredith J. Ching.  “We are pleased to fill the Food Bank’s cupboards and coolers with high nutrition food items needed during the peak-need summer months, when children are home from school.”  The $5,000 grant from the A&B Foundation will be sufficient to purchase, at wholesale prices, enough food to meet the needs of Maui’s families until food purchases and food drive proceeds are received in early- to mid-August.

“A&B’s quick response is a tremendous help”, said Food Bank Executive Director Debra Johnson.  “We can go ahead and purchase food without having to take money out of our operating reserves, and that is a huge relief. The grant will go a long way in helping us to provide food to families and individuals. We continue to be very thankful to A&B for their ability to see the need and respond quickly to help.”

“While we know that this grant will help purchase food immediately, it is the Foundation's hope that the community of Maui will help to stretch these dollars even further by conducting emergency food drives to ensure that there is enough food for those in need,” said Ms. Ching.

The A&B Foundation and its funding companies have been supporting the Maui Food Bank since 1988 and provide annual funding to support the largest community food drive conducted on Maui.  Its grants have helped the Food Bank purchase trucks used to collect food from retail sources, make minor capital improvements for their relocation to the 330 Hoohana Street warehouse facility and purchase refrigeration equipment to increase their capacity to accept chilled food products. 
 
Additionally, during the months immediately following the September 11, 2001 tragedy, when economic impacts were being felt statewide, the Maui Food Bank was one of the beneficiaries of the A&B Foundation’s Manawalea  program, receiving a $45,000 grant.  The Manawalea program was established to help with basic food and shelter needs of those temporarily impacted  by job cutbacks as a result of 9/11.

Several A&B employees volunteer their time to the organization, serving on the board of the Food Bank, including Mercer “Chubby” Vicens and Jeff Faulkner of A&B Properties and Buzz Fernandez of Matson Navigation Co.   

The Maui Food Bank and is the only certified food bank in Maui County that collects, warehouses and distributes mass quantities of both perishable and non-perishable food to help feed the hungry. Donated and purchased foods are distributed to 70 charities on Maui, Molokai and Lanai.  Last year the Maui Food bank collected over 1.4 million pounds of food to distribute to those requiring emergency food assistance. On average, the agencies that make up the charitable safety net of emergency hunger relief programs helped 7,000 people a month.

The Alexander & Baldwin Foundation is funded by the business activities of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. and its subsidiaries.  On Maui, these subsidiaries include Matson Navigation Company, A&B Properties, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S), and Kahului Trucking & Storage, Inc. (KT&S).  For more information about the A&B Foundation, visit website www.alexanderbaldwin.com.

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