Thanks to the community’s support and dedicated volunteers, Hale Kau Kau has served more than 1.5 million meals, 365 days a year, for 27 straight years.

KIHEI – South Maui’s only daily soup kitchen, Hale Kau Kau, recently served its 10,000th consecutive day of meal service.

“In celebrating this 10,000th day milestone, we are filled with gratitude for the community’s support to feed the hungry,” said Rev. Monsignor Terrence Watanabe, Hale Kau Kau’s executive director and pastor at St. Theresa Church.

“We carry out its motto to feed with compassion and aloha, because so many people are willing to share their time, talent and treasure.”

Hale Kau Kau served its first official meal on Aug. 11, 1991, and has since provided more than 1,500,000 meals, 365 days a year, without fail, thanks to the generosity of the community and funds raised from its annual fundraiser.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, Hale Kau Kau will hold its 20th annual Fundraising Dinner & Auction from 4:30 to 9 p.m. at the Wailea Beach Resort-Marriott, Maui.

Volunteer Susan Forysth is one of dozens of volunteers who serve in the kitchen and support Hale Kau Kau’s mission to feed with compassion and aloha. PHOTOS BY HALE KAU KAU.

Proceeds from the event will go toward supporting Hale Kau Kau’s mission to alleviate hunger in South Maui by feeding with compassion and aloha.

The event will feature a buffet dinner, live and silent auctions and live entertainment. The reception and silent auction will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by dinner and live auction at 6 p.m.

This year’s event theme is “Sharing the Love,” which aptly describes the support Hale Kau Kau has received from the island and beyond our shores in their continued efforts to feed the homebound, the hungry and the homeless in South Maui.

The nonprofit’s fundraising dinner provides approximately 40 percent of Hale Kau Kau’s annual budget to ensure their staff and volunteers can pour their heartfelt love and energy into their nonprofit feeding ministry.

Hale Kau Kau also receives funding from the County of Maui, St. Theresa Church parishioners, private donors and foundations, and through other fundraisers, including the Maui Visitor Industry Charity Walk and the annual Mulligans on the Blue Golf Tournament.

The first 15 years of operation involved serving meals – no questions asked – from a kitchen window at St. Theresa Church. As of today, Hale Kau Kau has a roster of homebound clients in need of 85 meals delivered throughout South Maui.

According to Watanabe, “Our homebound clients are frail, sick, disabled and elderly. Hale Kau Kau also maintains a no-questions asked policy for homebound clients. So, the homebound clients have been referred to us by their doctor, priest or minister, the county’s Office on Aging, a nonprofit organization and/or the client’s insurance company.”

Meals are delivered by volunteer drivers, seven days a week. “For some clients, a dinner from Hale Kau Kau is their only meal of the day,” Watanabe said, “and in other instances, the volunteer driver is their only visitor of the day. Support from the community makes this feeding ministry possible.”

Individual seats for Hale Kau Kau’s Feb. 9 Fundraising Dinner & Auction are $150 per person or $140 per person if purchasing ten tickets. Sponsorships are also available.

For online reservations, and donor and sponsor opportunities, visit www.halekaukau.org. For additional information, call (808) 875-8754 or e-mail halekaukau@rcchawaii.org.