Chad Buck is a well-known figure in Hawaii, recognized for his significant contributions to the community, particularly in the area of food distribution and philanthropy. His efforts have made a substantial impact on the lives of needy families across the islands.
Hawaii Foodbank warehouse.
Contributions to the Hawaii Foodbank
Chad Buck is one of Hawaii's major food distributors. As his business grows, so does the amount of food he donates each year to the Hawaii Foodbank. Chad Buck is honored Monday for being this year's biggest individual donor. People like Chad keep the Foodbank full, and needy families fed. His donations make a big difference.
The shelves might look full at the Hawaii Foodbank, but donations are down 5% this year, which translates to 200,000 pounds of food. On average, the Foodbank delivers about 35,000 pounds of food each day, but the number has dropped to about 31,000 pounds. "This place is really starting to thin out a bit just because of what's going on with the economy, and that sort of made us step up our efforts," says Chad Buck of Hawaii Foodservice Alliance.
"If he weren't in business, we wouldn't be in business."
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Hawaii Foodservice Alliance (HFA) and Food Distribution Efforts
HFA is locally owned and one of the state’s largest suppliers of perishable food products. We own and operate FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act)-compliant warehousing and distribution facilities on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island and Long Beach, Calif. HFA represents and distributes for more than 20 local manufacturers across the islands. We are also the state’s largest distributor of local eggs and local beef across all islands.
HFA has been conducting food distribution outreaches for several years now. Our first emergency distribution of size was after Hurricane Iselle hit the Puna area on the Big Island. This past April, we donated all of the food and milk for the event at Ala Moana on the Saturday before Easter. At that time, this was the largest food distribution event in Hawaii’s history, with a line of cars that reached more than two miles long as people lined up for the food.
Currently, we are working with the city and the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF) to coordinate the bi-weekly food distribution events. These started in April and are scheduled to go through the month of May. Our history and experience in large-scale food distribution helped prepare us for these larger events. It is a humbling experience to work alongside the great leadership, staff and amazing volunteers in these organizations. We typically have 20 or more of our own HFA team members at these events to handle the refrigerated trucks and logistics.
The city/HCF food distribution events (Aloha Stadium, Leeward Community College, Waipio Soccer Complex) are being sponsored by a city grant of $1 million. Department of Agriculture just awarded several contracts to local companies to supply food to nonprofits as well.
Food Insecurity In Hawai'i
Addressing Food Supply Concerns in Hawaii
In general, the food supply is in good shape. The hoarding that took place early on has subsided and grocers, clubs and retailers are slowly rebuilding their stock levels.
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Hawaii’s complete lack of any stockpiles of basic food, water and medical supplies to face any disaster, whether pandemic or natural disaster, should be one of our state leaders’ greatest concerns and calls to action. Hawaii needs to get serious about building stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies.
Personal Motivation and Background
I am passionate about food distribution for those in need because of my firsthand experience of being in need, without any systems in place to fall back on. As a teenage father working three jobs to try to put food on the table, I walked through the adversity and the fear of failing those who depended on me to provide.
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