Skip to main content
  • group photo
  • funder logos on food truck
  • people serving food
  • prepared meal

Shoyu chicken and Caesar salad are some of the healthy favorites delivered by Kapi‘olani Community College’s new food truck to children eligible for free and reduced lunches at six meal sites over the summer. The effort is part of the Department of Education Office of Hawai’i Child Nutrition Program’s summer food services program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Culinary Institute of the Pacific and Health Sciences Programs at Kapi‘olani CC received $70,000 from Kaiser Permanente and $50,000 from Walmart Foundation to support the purchase and refurbishment of the college’s “Cooking up a Rainbow” Health and Wellness Food Truck.

Said Daniel Leung, program coordinator in Kapi‘olani CC’s Culinary Arts Department, “We are most grateful to Kaiser Permanente and Walmart and our other key supporters for their generosity. This food truck plays such a key role in providing children with essential nutrition at times when they need it most, and educating our community for a lifetime of healthy eating. Mahalo!”

Kapi‘olani CC is producing the lunches with help from participants in the college’s Go Cook! Hawai‘i job training program funded by a U.S. Department of Labor Community College Career and Technical Training Grant.  Go Cook! Hawai‘i students helped deliver the lunches they had prepared to keiki at Kūhiō Park Terrace in June.

“It made me feel good to see us helping all these kids,” Kapi‘olani CC student Roselinta Nedelec said. “I just feel awesome. I’m proud of myself that I made the food and I’m here to witness them eating it.”

The healthy lunch recipes are developed by the college’s Culinary Innovation Center with the goal of using food from local farmers. The summer food services are also serving as a pilot production and taste-testing opportunity for a statewide farm-to-school lunch menu development project. 

Throughout the year, the health and wellness food truck will provide preventive health education and screening in a range of community settings to children and families in low-income and outlying communities. 

“Good nutrition is a fundamental building block of a healthy lifestyle,” said Dave Underriner, president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, Hawai‘i Region. “It’s our pleasure to support KCC’s innovative work in providing meals to those in need because it will help our keiki, our kupuna and our community thrive.”

As a “mobile, hands-on classroom,” the truck will also transport chef instructors, ingredients and portable cooking equipment to conduct hands-on healthy eating and healthy cooking workshops organized by non-profit partner agencies and community health clinics. 

Said Lance McAlister, Hawai‘i market manager for Walmart, “We feel it’s important to give back to the island communities we serve. On behalf of our more than 4,000 Walmart associates in Hawai‘i, we’re proud to support this valuable social service outreach program.”

# # #

The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. www.uhfoundation.org