A couple of years ago the Hawaii Food Bank  put out the word that they were running short on some basic staple foods as the holidays were approaching and several of the local service organizations made plans to help out. There wasn’t much time to organize things as we only had a couple days notice so we just sort of winged it. I was part of a team of four that set up a table in front of the Kailua Foodland on Hekili street to ask shoppers to buy an extra bag of rice and drop it off as they left the store and we would ensure it got to the multiple programs that benefit from the Food Bank’s work. It was quite successful.*

The only way this could have worked was with Foodland’s participation. When we asked, they answered and with pretty much no time to set things up (or run it through some sort of corporate approval food chain), it came together. Not only did they let us park our table right outside the door to talk to their customers, they also took action.

• Rice immediately went on sale. A seriously good deal of a sale.
• The folks that do such things made sure that there was a massive pallet of rice just inside the door.
• That pallet never got empty, there was always someone to refill it.
• The folks at the checkout counter were asked to mention that pallet as people paid for their groceries to give them a last opportunity to jump in.

It was an amazing display of generosity and goodwill and it still chokes me up a little just to type about it.

It turns out that Foodland is and has been a vital part of the community for many moons and their biggest demonstration of that starts September 1st and ends on the 30th. If you’re not familiar with the Give Aloha program, read on (if you are, go buy some groceries).

The short list of what you need to know about supporting the Windward Choral Society with Give Aloha:

• Dates donations can be made – September 1 – 30, 2016
• Donations can be made at any Foodland or Sack N Save store
• Windward Choral Society’s organization code is #78607 (there will be a banner at the Kailua store with that on it but all of the checkout peeps will also have a list)
• You can donate up to $249

Rather than just type all the details, here’s everything you need to know. The bottom line is that Foodland will be sending hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the community.

Again.

Just like last year.

And every year since they started the program in 1999.

Mahalo fo’ dat.

(*In just under 6 hours we collected 1.6 TONS of rice. Yeah, we have a lot of good neighbors.)