St. Michael the Archangel Parish
The Food Pantry:
Kaukau for the Hungry and Sharing God's ALOHA
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eeding the hungry is one of the Corporal Works of Mercy Jesus taught us to live out in service to others as His intentional disciples. The St. Michael Food Pantry is one way we live this out, right here in our local community. Especially during this time of COVID-19, more people than ever have had difficulty feeding themselves and making ends meet. The Food Pantry was able to stay open throughout the pandemic and has been able to continue as a force for good for those in need. “The Food Pantry has dual missions — to provide love and nourishment for those in need, and to offer parishioners an opportunity to practice their faith,” says Bill Culhane, who coordinates the ministry along with his wife, Cindy. “St. Michael volunteers know that we need to do more than provide nutritional support for those who need it. We strive to show them God’s love through our attitude and friendliness. In addition to the time and effort our volunteers put in, we couldn’t thrive without the prayers and donations of the parish at large.” The Food Pantry is located at one of our parish’s mission churches, Immaculate Conception in Hōlualoa, and has been operating for over 30 years. This ministry receives a tremendous amount of support from the parish to be able to provide both shelf-stable and fresh food items for recipients. In addition to Fr. Lio and the parish staff, this support has included our Sharing Garden, which harvests hundreds of pounds of fresh produce for each distribution; Stan and Cookie Ha’aino of the Building Repair and Maintenance Ministry, who renovated Immaculate Conception Hall; the Knights of Columbus, who have provided financial support and made bi-monthly trips to Hilo for much of the year to bring back USDA Farms to Family food; and Thelma Bacxa, who coordinates the Diaper Ministry, which distributes diapers to families during the food distributions. “We also coordinate with Family Support Hawai'i," Bill says. "Their employees often select the clients most continued on page 7
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