‘Burn’n Love’ helps Maui Food Bank provide weekend meals to keiki
LAHAINA – In a continued partnership with Maui Food Bank (MFB), the “Burn’n Love” show discounted kama’aina tickets to $20 and donated proceeds to MFB’s Aloha Backpack Buddies program on Aug. 21 and 22.
“We’ve worked closely with Maui Food Bank since day one and continue to donate a portion of every ‘Burn’n Love’ ticket sold each night. But when we found out how many young children don’t get proper meals on the weekends when they are not having school lunch, we wanted to help this specific program as well,” said Rick Dunaj, general manager of “Burn’n Love.”
MFB’s Aloha Backpack Buddies program provides elementary school children who are on the free and reduced meal program at their school with a pre-filled backpack on Friday containing six meals they take home for the weekend.
The program was launched in September 2012 with one school and now serves nine schools, including four on Molokai. The backpack food items are designated for children from low-income families and children living at or below poverty level.
“Our Aloha Backpack Buddies program provides about 1,200 backpacks a month to children at risk of going hungry. Each school year, we distribute over 90,000 meals through this program,” said Richard Yust, Maui Food Bank executive director.
“With Burn’n Love’s help and the help of our community, we hope to increase this and expand to reach more island keiki in need.”
Since December 2013, proceeds from the sale of “Burn’n Love” tickets have provided over 38,000 meals to needy people on the island through the partnership with Maui Food Bank.
“Burn’n Love” is a dynamic live music production that takes audiences on a musical journey through Elvis Presley in Hawaii. It was created specifically for the islands and captures “The King’s” time in Hawaii and Hawaii’s influence on his life, movies and music.