Kaiser Permanente Hawaii is investing $263,000 in four local nonprofits to expand access to healthy, locally sourced food for families across the islands, the health care provider announced Tuesday. The grants support programs aimed at reducing hunger, improving nutrition and strengthening local agriculture at a time when food insecurity remains stubbornly high across the state.
The funding will support initiatives ranging from subsidized produce for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program households to culturally relevant “Food is Medicine” programs and food rescue operations serving low-income communities. Kaiser Permanente said the grants reflect its broader commitment to addressing the social factors that influence health, including access to affordable, nutritious food.
According to the organization, 30% of households in Hawaii and 48% of families with children are experiencing food insecurity — a persistent problem that was intensified during the pandemic and continues to strain community resources. Local providers say the high cost of living, rising food prices and uneven access to fresh produce in rural areas all contribute to the ongoing need.
The Food Basket, Hawaii island’s food bank, received a $75,000 grant to expand its DA BUX SNAP Nutrition Incentives for Community Supported Agriculture Produce program. The initiative offers SNAP participants a 50% discount on CSA subscriptions sourced from local farmers. The subsidies are designed to help families regularly access fresh fruits and vegetables while bolstering the island’s agricultural economy.
Matching SNAP dollars would not only reduces the cost burden on families but also creates stable demand for local growers, particularly in rural parts of Hawaii County where access to affordable produce can be limited. DA BUX incentives have grown into one of the state’s largest programs connecting local agriculture with low-income consumers.
The Hawaii Good Food Alliance was awarded $50,000 for its ‘Ai Pono initiative, which provides produce-based “nutrition prescription” boxes to Medicaid beneficiaries with diet-related chronic diseases. The boxes, sourced from local growers, include culturally relevant ingredients intended to support Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander dietary preferences and improve long-term health outcomes.
Most of the funding will go toward distributing
720 boxes through the Waimanalo Health Center, along with staffing and
administrative support.
Aloha Harvest, Oahu’s largest food rescue organization, will use its $43,000 grant to support staff and vehicle operations needed to collect and redistribute surplus edible food to pantries, shelters and community groups. The nonprofit rescues millions of pounds of food each year from restaurants, wholesalers, event venues and farms that would otherwise be discarded.
The new funding will help expand deliveries to partner agencies across the island, reducing waste while increasing access to fresh, nutritious foods for households facing rising food costs.
The Hawaii Foodbank will receive $95,000 — the largest portion of the grants — to support its Kupuna Fresh program, which provides monthly bags of produce to 1,500 seniors on Oahu and Kauai.
Bags typically include fruits and vegetables that are both culturally familiar and easy to prepare for older adults, who are among the state’s most vulnerable to food insecurity.
The grant will also strengthen the food bank’s Farm to Family initiative, which offsets production costs for local farmers supplying produce for donation. The program aims to stabilize farmers’ income while expanding the availability of fresh foods in the food bank’s statewide network of 275 partner agencies.
Kaiser Permanente said the investments reflect its approach to improving community health by addressing economic and environmental factors that shape well-being. Leaders said that supporting locally led food access efforts can reduce preventable health issues tied to diet, while strengthening connections between agriculture and health care.
“Access to healthy, affordable food is essential to total health,” Ed Chan, president of Hawaii Market Kaiser Foundation Health Plan &Hospitals, said in a statement. “By partnering with trusted community organizations across the state, we’re helping families put nutritious meals on the table, supporting local farmers, and improving long-term health outcomes.”
