WEINBERG FOUNDATION AND HANALEI BAY ROTARY TEAM UP TO HELP NORTH SHORE FOOD PANTRIES AND HANALEI ELEMENTARY

On January 24, a rainy and chilly Saturday morning, 30 members of the Hanalei Bay Rotary headed over to Hanalei Elementary to install a new paver block at Hanalei Elementary School. The project was designed by school Principal Lisa MacDonald, and will help children leaving their classrooms cross an area that became quite muddy when it rains. Rotarians prepared the area and then installed one foot square paver blocks. The new paver-block patio is 3′ x 200′ and fronts the entire building.

To encourage and support communities to work together to improve a community’s physical environment, the Weinberg Foundation created a program called Friends. The Friends program donated $10,000 to an approved 501(c) (3) non-profit of the Rotary’s choosing. This year the Hawaii Food Bank-Kauai Branch was selected, and the funds will be used to support the 3 north shore food pantries on Kauai.

“This is win-win for the Rotary.” said Branch Lotspeich, Chair of Community Service for the Hanalei Bay Rotary. “We are honored to be able to help the Hanalei School and the Hawaii Food Bank, all in the same morning.”

The check for $10,000 was presented to Michelle Panoke, Administrative Supervisor of the Hawaii Food Bank-Kauai Branch, by Branch Lotspeich, Community Service Chair, at the club’s Thursday lunch meeting, March 19th.

“The need for food support for Kaua`i families is greater than ever. We are very grateful that the Hanalei Bay Rotary selected us to receive these funds,” said Michelle.
This is the 9th Weinberg Friends project the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay has performed resulting in $90,000 donated to local non-profits on Kauai.

ABOUT ROTARY AND THE HAWAII FOODBANK:

The Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay was chartered on July 13, 1994, and currently has 66 active members. Hanalei Bay Rotarians have a 20-year track record of giving back to the community. Recent projects include the renovation of the Hanalei Bay Pier; Adopt a Classroom, which offers $700 and a volunteer in each adopted classroom; Adopt-a-Club, which funds after school clubs in Hanalei and Kilauea elementary schools; Growing Our Own Teachers, which has provided over $250,000 in financial aid to assist 59 aspiring local students to become certified elementary school teachers on Kauai since 2007; and the Rescue Tube Foundation, which supplies, installs and maintains over 250 life-saving rescue-tube stations on Kauai, credited with more than 92 documented “saves.” In 2011 the Rescue Tube Program was expanded to Maui and Big Island, where they have been used to save several dozen lives.

The Hawaii Foodbank – Kauai Branch was established in Lihue, Kauai in July 2010. Together with the Hawaii Foodbank on Oahu, the Food Basket on the Big Island, and the Maui Food Bank, we are a statewide network of food banks that serve the people of Hawaii. All food and monetary donations raised on Kauai, stays on Kauai. Last year, the Kauai Branch distributed more than 1 million pounds of food to 29 member agencies. These agencies are food pantries, feeding programs, shelters, rehabilitation centers and soup kitchens serving the needy on Kauai. For more information: (808) 482-2224

All Photos from Hanalei Bay Rotary.