KAANAPALI - Members of the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association (KBRA) collected more than 31,600 pounds of food in their Holiday Food Bank Challenge - "an all-time record high" for the holiday season, according to the Maui Food Bank.
With the Food Bank reporting donations down 20 percent from last year and an 18 percent increase in the drawdown, this collection of food from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 was more than welcome.
"The Kaanapali Beach Resort Association set an all-time record high for safe and nutritious food items collected and donated to the Maui Food Bank's Holiday Food Drive," said Marlene Rice, development director for the Maui Food Bank. "The success of KBRA's food-challenge efforts will help provide hunger relief for many who do not know where their next meal is coming from."
The donation will help more than 20,000 people this holiday season, Rice added.
The drive for food by the KBRA members included a drawing for free rounds of golf, vacation days offered for employees and proceeds from dinners and desserts served. The drive raised 31,690 pounds of food and grocery-store gift cards.
The KBRA member organization with the highest per-person average of food donations was UFO Chuting of Hawaii, with 14 employees. They contributed 447 pounds, valued at $31.93 per donor.
The Westin Maui Resort & Spa and its 750 workers collected the largest raw amount of food: 10,020 pounds.
Other participants included the Whaler on Kaanapali Beach, Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas and The Ka'anapali Beach Hotel, Kaanapali Alii, Beach Activities of Maui, Maui Marriott Ocean Club, The Royal Lahaina Resort, Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, Kaanapali Golf Courses, Maui Kaanapali Villas, Whalers Village, TS Restaurants, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa and The Fairway Shops.
"The Holiday Food Bank Challenge was a friendly competition among KBRA resort members to support our community ohana who may be facing hardship situations this year due to the economic downturn," said Shelley Kekuna, KBRA executive director. "Collecting 31,690 pounds of food plus grocery-store gift cards takes a bit of work, and, to encourage donations from employees and other sources, our resort partners were very creative in their outreach."
At the Hula Grill, the Food Bank was the beneficiary of the Chef's Tasting Menu nightly special, from which $1 of every meal was donated, and a Black Friday fundraiser called the Rich Apt Charity Fund, where bartenders donated tips made in the main bar. Apt was a Hula Grill employee, who recently died from colon cancer.
The human resources team at The Royal Lahaina Resort created two food-challenge deadlines and offered two paid personal holidays per challenge.
Many employees of the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa donated their holiday $10 gift cards from Safeway to the food drive.
The Westin Maui Resort joined with Walmart in Kahului on a food drive and donated a two-night stay and gift certificates to the resort's Heavenly Spa. The items were prizes for drawings held during the food drive at Walmart.
Hotel associates at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas created a Zero Calorie Dessert to help promote the cause. Customers to the resort's three restaurants could order the dessert or donate $5 instead of eating the dessert.
The Kaanapali Golf Courses offered an incentive to the community, customers and their staff to donate food. The golf resort held a drawing for a free round of golf on the course of the winner's choice when people donated three or more nonperishable food items.
