Big Island businesses have stepped up to provide shopping hours solely for k\u016bpuna to stock up on essential household supplies amid the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization\u2019s declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic sent people worldwide to stores buying up toilet paper, soap, hand sanitizer and thermometers. While supply chains to the Hawaiian Islands have not been impacted by the virus, hoarding has left store shelves bare of necessary items for days.<\/p>\n
To combat that, KTA, Foodland, Keaukaha General Store, Target and Safeway have\u00a0designated shopping hours<\/a>\u00a0for those who are the most susceptible to the novel coronavirus, the elderly and those with underlying conditions.<\/p>\n At Keaukaha General Store, the owner and manager took it step further and with the help of community partners, created 600 k\u016bpuna care packages that include toilet paper, paper towels, face and body soap and granola bars.<\/p>\n \u201cThe elderly are suffering,\u201d said Keaukaha General Store manager Breeani Sumera-Lee. \u201cMany of them are unable to get to the stores right now, or going to the stores and finding there is nothing left for them or too scared to go out to get items they need to.\u201d<\/p>\n As of Thursday, 300 packages were delivered and Sumera-Lee said they plan to make an additional 400 packages within the next couple days.<\/p>\n Sumera-Lee said it was her mother\u2019s idea to do the free packages.<\/p>\n \u201cMostly what we wanted to do was put a blanket on our community \u2014\u00a0to comfort them and reduce fear,\u201d said Sumera-Lee\u2019s mom Kim Kimi and owner of Keaukaha General Store.<\/p>\n Kimi was inspired with the idea on Sunday and mentioned it to her daughter, saying Sumera-Lee is the one who her takes her ideas and makes them reality. The following day, Sumera-Lee starting taking names from those who wanted a package. Deliveries started Wednesday.<\/p>\n With a group of six volunteers, Sumera-Lee assembled the 600 packages and created three distribution centers where volunteers could pick up the bags and deliver them to the doorsteps of the k\u016bpuna. Once delivered, the k\u016bpuna receives a phone call to inform them of the delivery.<\/p>\n Sumera-Lee said they were able to order the items in bulk from the mainland and have been receiving supplies throughout the week.<\/p>\n \u201cNo task is too big when we hold together,\u201d Sumera-Lee said. \u201cWe all have a gift. We all have the ability to give and serve.\u201d<\/p>\n Since deliveries began, Sumera-Lee has received phone calls a text messages from recipients full of gratitude as some of them aren\u2019t even able to go shopping on their own because of physical disabilities or other chronic illnesses.<\/p>\n Keaukaha General Store has had help from its community partners to make this happen: Hawa\u2018ii Rise Foundation, Hawai\u2018i Affordable Properties Inc., Aloha Grown, Creative Arts Hawai\u2018i, Hawaii Paper Products, American Hotel Register, FFF Distributing along with County Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all can do a little bit,\u201d Kimi said. \u201cIf we can do that, we\u2019ll be better off.\u201d<\/p>\n To sign up for a k\u016bpuna care package, call or text 808-333-8985 with their name, address and phone number. They can also email\u00a0contact@keaukahageneralstore.com.\u00a0They can also reorder.<\/p>\n This article was originally found on Big Island Now<\/a>.\u00a0 Source https:\/\/bigislandnow.com\/2020\/03\/19\/keaukaha-general-store-organizes-delivery-of-kupuna-care-packages\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Big Island businesses have stepped up to provide shopping hours solely for k\u016bpuna to stock…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiirisefoundation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}