Happy food pantry volunteers gather for a group photo. (Courtesy Sacred Heart Church)
By Sacred Heart Church Waianae Food Pantry Outreach Ministry
Special to the Herald
God has an outreach food pantry in Waianae on the Leeward Coast that is a tremendous success. Why should this surprise us when everything he does is perfect? To us, it is truly a wonder after all the job losses and business failures during COVID-19 in an already high-poverty community.
In autumn 2021, the need to feed people was great due to the prior two years of devastation. Father Jaime Jose at Sacred Heart Church realized that the food pantry needed to reopen.
He approached Regina Meleisea to ask her and other parish volunteers to step up to the challenge of feeding the local community. They did so with grateful hearts for the opportunity.
The food pantry opened in October 2021. With Regina’s past experience in this area, she swiftly inspired volunteers with the urgency of carrying out this mission on the west side. In addition, Regina organized a team of caring, compassionate individuals who see Jesus in everyone who walks through their doors.
Finding partnerships was not easy because everyone was coming off strict COVID-19 rules. During the first month, the number of people served at the food pantry rose from 150 to over 1,000, a growth rate of over 500%.
At this point, Aloha Harvest became the main contributor with 90% of the incoming food/resources; the remaining 9% is donated by sister churches, and 1% comes from private donors within the community. The majority of our 35 volunteers are active members of Sacred Heart Church, making the team 98% Catholic; a major benefit is that all volunteers are local.
This crucial ministry has helped all areas of the Waianae community, ranging from low-income to middle-class individuals and families. We are dedicated to providing resources without a distinction. We are nondiscriminatory because as Christians, we want to reflect God’s love to everyone who comes in for help.
The following stories show the firsthand impact of the food pantry at Sacred Heart:
“My family depends on EBT each month; but by the middle of the month, we have already exhausted all of our benefits from the state of Hawaii. The food pantry makes it possible to supplement our food for the rest of the month.”
“As a sober-living home, with many of our 35 clients/residents living and working in the community, it has been very difficult to get enough food for the entire house. This food pantry has been a blessing every week; and a few of the house residents have now been volunteering their time to spread this kindness to others.”
From a volunteer: “While being out and about in the community, people recognize my car; and I can hear my name being called out. It is apparent that people recognize the efforts we are doing here at Sacred Heart and eagerly come forward to meet us.”
Our current food pantry distribution schedule is Tuesday and Wednesday every week; this is set to accommodate the Aloha Harvest drivers’ schedule. In addition to these days, volunteers are authorized to share food and resources stored at the parish at any time during the week if they are on site while doing so.
Our gates at Sacred Heart Church open at 7 a.m. and lines start forming right away. Generally, the food pantry opens at 8 a.m. when enough volunteers have arrived to help.
We thank God for allowing us to serve others with his food pantry — and for his blessings in bringing our parish community together in this vital ministry. We also praise him for teaching us how to put forth the extra efforts to be good servants in our outreach ministry: “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 John 3:18)
