While we take great pride in safely transporting our guests to their destinations, our Cargo team is equally proud of its role in getting goods to where they need to be. As a company rooted in Hawai‘i, the relationships we form and nurture with local businesses are key to our mutual success.
Kahea Kaaihili, the owner of Mokuwai Piko Poi, is a fourth generation kalo farmer from Waipi’o Valley on Hawai’i Island. Her ‘ohana have been growing kalo and processing poi for generations through a small commercial kitchen in Honoka’a.
When Kahea agreed to sell her poi pops to Kahumana, a nonprofit organization in Wai’anae, O’ahu, and a sponsor of the summer feeding program Kaukau 4 Keiki (K4K), nervousness set in because it was the company's largest order and shipment to date.
Her concerns quickly turned to relief when she arrived at Hawaiian's Hilo cargo facility.
"We have been on both ends of shipping as well as receiving for many years now. However, this summer as we partnered with the Kahumana team for the Kaukau 4 Keiki program, the staff at Hilo Hawaiian Air Cargo were even more amazing than they already are! They were the greatest cheer squad and always wanting to know how many Poi Pops we were sending. They were so excited for our keiki of Wai’anae and helped to keep us excited even on the harder days," said Kaaihili.
The K4K program provides nutritious meal boxes with only locally sourced items for keiki to make a weeks' worth of breakfast and lunch meals at home during the summer school break. The K4K boxes are distributed at no cost to keiki in rural areas that meet the eligibility requirements of free and reduced meals at Hawaii’s public schools, including the entire Leeward Coast of Wai’anae.
By the end of the K4K program in late July, Mokuwai Piko Poi had shipped 42,000 poi pops to Kahumana.
“Living in Hawaiʻi we use the word aloha so freely. However, the employees of Hawaiian Air Cargo Hilo practice it. What a blessing it is to know that we have the employees of Hilo Hawaiian Air Cargo supporting and encouraging Mokuwai Piko Poi to follow our dreams of providing poi for our people," Kaaihili added. "[They] helped us in transporting our poi with so much aloha and made the distance [between islands] so effortless."
Hawaiian’s Hilo Cargo team has also been helping Hula Brothers get lychee, longan and rambutan from its Kea‘au farm to markets in Hawai‘i and on the U.S. West Coast for more than five years.
"They take care of my product and try to get it on the plane as fast as possible. I don't know all of their names all the time, but they know mine. They've helped us a lot," said Bob Hamilton, owner of Hula Brothers.
The relationship between our team and our clients is key to ensuring our local businesses and communities thrive.
Jennifer Gouviea, cargo chief agent at Hawaiian’s Hilo station shares, “It feels really good to support local because we’re helping to get their products to various destinations. Of course we’re going to support them, no matter what.”
Featured image: Kahea Kaaihili, the owner of Mokuwai Piko Poi, with her daughter and Hawaiian's Eddie Kalima and Jason Ryusaki.