West Oʻahu is poised to take a significant step toward greater food security as ʻElepaio Social Services prepares to break ground on a multimillion-dollar facility.
A roughly $17 million community services campus will be built next to Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and include a food warehouse, teaching kitchen and cultural center, along with a nursery and food forest.
The entire campus takes aim at the Leeward community’s disproportionate rates of food insecurity and food-related health concerns — among the highest in the state — while helping “return our community from food desert back to food basket,” ʻElepaio Executive Director Alicia Higa said.
Construction will begin with a 10,500-square-foot food warehouse, which will serve as a food bank for residents as well as an emergency supply in case of disaster. The new warehouse will more than triple the footprint of ʻElepaio’s current pantry, which the organization is funding through state and philanthropic grants…