Nonprofit Spotlight: Hawaiʻi Foodbank
At a Glance
- Mission: To nourish Hawaiʻi's ʻohana today while working to end hunger tomorrow
- Founded: 1983, by local truck driver John White and a group of community leaders
- Leadership: Amy Miller, President & CEO (since May 2021)
- Service area: Directly serves Oʻahu and Kauaʻi; partners with Maui Food Bank (Maui County) and The Food Basket (Hawaiʻi County) as part of Hawaiʻi's statewide "Food Bank Hui"
- Affiliation: Certified member of Feeding America and partner agency of Aloha United Way and Kauaʻi United Way
- Network: More than 250 charitable agency partners, including food pantries, school and keiki pantries, senior housing programs, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and soup kitchens
- Recent impact: Distributed roughly 22.2 million pounds of food (about 19.5–19.7 million meals) statewide over the past year, serving an average of 150,000–160,000 people per month
- Warehouses: 2611 Kilihau St., Honolulu (Oʻahu) and 4241 Hanahao Pl., Ste. 101, Līhuʻe (Kauaʻi)
For more than 40 years, Hawaiʻi Foodbank has been the backbone of hunger relief in the islands, growing from a single flatbed truck and a borrowed forklift into the state's largest food distribution network. What began in 1983 as a grassroots response to visible hunger in local communities has become an operation that now moves tens of millions of pounds of food a year to families across Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, while working alongside sister organizations to reach every county in the state.
The need has only grown more urgent. According to the organization's own research, "The State of Food Insecurity in Hawaiʻi 2024–2025," roughly 32% of Hawaiʻi households — an estimated 463,000 people — experienced food insecurity in the past year, a figure that has held stubbornly high as the cost of living continues to outpace wages. Neighbor islands are hit hardest, with Hawaiʻi County (43%) and Maui County (41%) reporting the steepest rates, while Oʻahu alone accounts for roughly 250,000 food-insecure residents. Food insecurity among households with children has climbed to 34%, and more than half of young adults ages 18 to 29 report struggling to consistently access food.
Hawaiʻi Foodbank's programs are built to meet families where they are. Its Food 4 Keiki initiative supplies school and weekend food bags to keiki across dozens of school pantries, while the Senior Food Box and Kūpuna Fresh programs deliver USDA staples and fresh produce to kūpuna facing mobility and income challenges. The Farm to Families program pairs local agricultural purchases with distribution, supporting Hawaiʻi farmers while getting fresh, island-grown produce onto family tables — about a quarter of everything the organization distributes is fresh produce. The Foodbank also plays a lead role in disaster response, mobilizing supplemental distributions after events like flooding, hurricanes, and, most recently, Tropical Storm Lala, drawing on lessons learned from its relief work following Hurricane ʻIniki in 1992.
Under President and CEO Amy Miller, who joined the organization in 2021 after leading operations at Bishop Museum, Hawaiʻi Foodbank has leaned further into data-driven strategy — publishing an annual food insecurity report, expanding partnerships with employers and federal work sites, and pursuing a new Waipahu facility to build long-term capacity for both daily operations and disaster resilience. The organization also connects clients directly to federal SNAP benefits and other public assistance, aiming to address the systemic drivers of hunger rather than food access alone.
The community continues to show up for the mission. Matson recently expanded its in-kind shipping support, adding capacity equivalent to millions of additional meals, and the U.S. Postal Service's annual Stamp Out Hunger drive and the City and County of Honolulu's employee food drives remain reliable seasonal boosts. Hawaiʻi Foodbank's own flagship event, Food Drive Day, returns each summer with island-wide donation sites and mall activations at Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge Center, and Ka Makana Aliʻi, inviting the public to drop off shelf-stable food and celebrate the volunteers and donors who keep the network running.
With more than 60 staff across its Oʻahu and Kauaʻi warehouses and a volunteer corps that sorts, packs, and distributes food nearly every day of the week, Hawaiʻi Foodbank remains one of the state's most visible and trusted safety nets — proof that a single flatbed truck in 1983 grew into infrastructure the whole state now depends on.
Contact Information
Hawaiʻi Foodbank
Oʻahu Warehouse: 2611 Kilihau St., Honolulu, HI 96819
Kauaʻi Warehouse: 4241 Hanahao Pl., Ste. 101, Līhuʻe, HI 96766
Phone (Oʻahu): 808-836-3600
Phone (Kauaʻi): 808-482-2224
Volunteer inquiries: volunteer@hawaiifoodbank.org | 808-954-7866
Donor services: donorservices@hawaiifoodbank.org | 808-954-7853
General email: info@hawaiifoodbank.org
Website: hawaiifoodbank.org
Facebook: facebook.com/HawaiiFoodbank
Instagram: @hawaiifoodbank
Tax ID (EIN): 99-0220699
