HONOLULU – On Saturday, April 27, Hui Car Share, Lanakila Meals on Wheels, and University of Hawaiʻi students joined forces to help deliver 1,250 emergency food care packages to homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities across Oʻahu. Civic-minded UH student volunteers gathered at Varney Circle at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus at 8:30am this morning where they were partnered with Servco Pacific employee volunteers and introduced to Hui Car Share’s key-less rental platform. With the Hui app and their smart phone, UH students used Hui vehicles to help deliver these special care packages to homebound individuals in need.
“Hui Car Share and Lanakila Meals on Wheels is a natural partnership that benefits thousands in our community,” said Peter Fukunaga, Director of Hui Car Share. “Through our key-less car share platform, we are happy to provide the necessary mobility solution for these volunteers to continue helping our kupuna and individuals with disabilities.”
This event was part of Lanakila Meals on Wheels’ semi-annual initiative to provide emergency food care packages to our vulnerable populations on Oahu. Just prior to the start of hurricane season and again on Thanksgiving Day, Lanakila Meals on Wheels and hundreds of its volunteers prepare and deliver these care packages filled with non-perishable food items to help ensure that homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities have access to food in times of emergencies.
With more than 1,000 seniors relying on Lanakila Meals on Wheels to deliver what is often their only source of food, natural disasters such as hurricanes, tropical storms, flooding, and power outages make them vulnerable when such conditions prohibit Lanakila Meals on Wheels from delivering its regular meals to them. “If we weren’t able to get to our seniors during such times, they would at least have something to hold them over till we get there,” said Lori Lau, Director of Lanakila Meals and Wheels.