Nearly 40,000 pounds of food donated to Maui nonprofit for holidays | News, Sports, Jobs

A Maui nonprofit has received thousands of pounds of food to distribute to community members in need over the holidays.

Common Ground Collective announced Wednesday that it had received 1,000 donated turkeys and 24 pallets of donated dry groceries for relief efforts on Maui, through its partnership with leading food distributor United Natural Foods Inc.

Thanks to the generosity of UNFI, Pitman Farms and Jennie-O, 40,000 pounds of food have been donated to Common Ground Collective and will be distributed to community partners in Maui, according to a news release.

“UNFI cares greatly about the communities we serve and we’re proud to be able to leverage our operational, logistics, and distribution expertise and scale to support this meaningful food donation, which we hope will provide some much needed relief to families recovering from the devastating Lahaina wildfires,” said Erin Horvath, UNFI’s chief operating officer.

Common Ground Collective has partnered with numerous local agencies, businesses and volunteers on Maui to ensure that fire-impacted residents in Maui County receive free holiday meals. Napili, Sheraton, Honokowai, Pohaku, Kelawea hubs and the county/community (MOKA & Upcountry Strong) hubs planned to provide over 500 turkeys to families with access to kitchens, with Seabury Hall students and staff preparing cooked turkeys for some families without access to kitchens in the Lahaina area. The Maui Food Bank, Hawaii Food Alliance, Honolulu Freight Service and Rimfire Imports also assisted with storage, trucking and distribution.

“We want to express our utmost gratitude to all our community partners and volunteers who are working collectively to ease the burden of holiday meals for those who have already suffered so much, and to UNFI, Jennie-O, and Pitman Farms for their generous donations,” said Jennifer Karaca, founding executive director of Common Ground Collective.

The nonprofit helps teach community members to grow food, works with local businesses to distribute locally grown produce, promotes food security and increased economic opportunity, provides resources for the Native Hawaiian community and many other tasks, according to its website.

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