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Hawaiʻi Community Foundation
COVID-19 Response

COVID-19: Stories from the Field

Learn more about the incredible work happening on the ground across our state—from nurturing the children of health care workers, to ensuring that families have food on their tables.

Living to Serve, Local Style

Kahua Pa‘a Mua

As the plantations and their way of life disappeared, he passed on those values as an agriculture teacher with the Hawai‘i State Department of Education. He watched many of his students grow into leaders of the community. Says David, “When you look at those leaders you go, ‘Wow, we were happy we could contribute to them.”

Creating Touchpoints in a Distanced World

Boys and Girls Club of Hawai‘i

Prior to March, Tina Albao, Kaua‘i Director of Development and Operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Hawai‘i (BGCH), ran afterschool programs at sites around the island that provided enrichment and a safe place for youth, and supported strong connections between keiki, families, and the club’s staff.

Essential Help for Essential Workers

Island of Hawai‘i YMCA

When the pandemic hit, Alena Vincent was in a bind. She had started a new job with the DMV, while her husband, Wendell, worked with the Department of Transportation.

Building the Foundation for a Stable Community

Hawaiian Community Assets Financial Opportunity Center on Maui

Ivory Gilmore’s family has lived in Lahaina for generations. She works for Maui County, and has never been unemployed.

COVID, Legal Issues, and a Surge of Calls

Legal Aid Society Hawai‘i

Last March, as the pandemic was raging and Hawai‘i was all but shuttered, Cynthia Merrick found herself out of a job. Unemployment insurance was slow in coming, but she made rent with her savings and federal disaster relief money.

Nurturing Body and Spirit for Low-Income Kona Families

Kona Kids Outreach

Before COVID-19 hit, Kona Kids Outreach (KKO) was focused on enrichment for kids and their families in low-income subsidized housing in Kona, with afterschool programs and mentoring.

Food Trucks & Care Givers—An Unexpected Relationship

University of Hawai‘i Foundation

CTAHR partnered with the Maui Food Technology Center—a cooperative of fifteen food trucks—to offer family caregivers free meals. Former participants of CTAHR’s education programs received “kūpuna meal vouchers” to redeem at their choice of fifteen food trucks—twelve on Maui and three on Moloka‘i.

Helping Victims Walk a Dangerous Road Through COVID-19

Domestic Violence Action Center

When the coronavirus stay at home order was announced in Hawai'i, Nanci Kreidman, CEO of Hawai'i’s Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC), knew that it would be an exceptionally risky period for DVAC clients.

New Models for Helping Homeless Families During COVID-19

Family Promise of Hawai'i

On any given day, an estimated 563 families with minor children in Hawai‘i have no place to call home.

Zero Interest Loans Provide Security—And Hope

Hawaiian Community Assets

Struggle is nothing new for single mom Lei Agcaoili, who moved from O‘ahu to Kaua‘i, where they had few friends and no family, in order for her daughter to be closer to her dad.

Support for our Keiki—and Our Economy

The Home-Based Child Care Emergency Fund

Before COVID-19 reached our islands, Chanelle Aina-Paaoao had been caring for the children of working families from her home in Hilo for seven years. “They were all like family,” she says. “When there was a party, they were all invited.”

Food Talk

The Food Basket, Hawaii Island’s Food Bank

More than 1 in 10 people in Hawaii are food insecure—which means they lack consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. With COVID-19, families across Hawaii who were already struggling now need immediate help to basic needs. Grants from the Hawaii Resilience Fund were deployed to foodbanks across our islands just days after the fund was established.

Feeding Kupuna and Keiki—While Keeping Kauai’s Fishers Afloat

E Ola Mau and the Kekaha Agriculture Association

When the COVID-19 crisis struck, fishermen on Kauai’s rural West Side found themselves with plenty of fish but not so many buyers with restaurants only doing take-out. At the same time, the community’s furloughed tourism industry workers were finding it harder to feed their families.

Supporting the Working Families Who Support Hawaii

The YMCA

When schools closed their doors because of COVID-19, the YMCA knew that working families weren’t just losing lessons, but also reliable, trusted childcare, and often, important nutrition in the form of school meals.

Protecting Those Who Continue to Serve

PPE Resilience Hubs

Without a supply of masks, gloves, and other PPE, Heather Lusk and her staff, volunteers, and community partners can’t work safely in the field or in their clinic. Unless they find more, quickly, they may not be able to continue their lifesaving work at all.

Keeping Kupuna Healthy — at Home

Kokua Kalihi Valley

For many seniors at Kokua Kalihi Valley (KKV), the beloved elder program is a lifeline to friends, movement, fresh air, and community. When the COVID-19 stay-at-home order rolled out, the group activities for the senior program had to stop.

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Hawai‘i Community Foundation

O‘ahu

827 Fort Street Mall
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 537-6333

Maui

444 Hāna Hwy Suite 201
Kahului, HI 96732
(808) 242-6184

Kaua‘i

4268 Rice Street, Suite K
Līhu‘e, HI 96766
(808) 245-4585

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF) does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, ancestry, ethnic group identification, creed, sex (including actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity), disability, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, veteran’s status, or age in any HCF programs, services, activities, policies, hiring practices, administration, or grantmaking, and HCF does not intimidate or retaliate against any individual or group because they have exercised their rights to participate in actions protected, or oppose action prohibited, by 40 C.F.R. Parts 5 and 7, or for the purpose of interfering with such rights. For HCF’s full non-discrimination policy or to file a complaint of discrimination, please see our Non-Discrimination page.