Volunteer food harvest with Kokua Harvest in Hawaii

I recently started to volunteer with this program on Hawaii called Kokua Harvest which takes the abundance of produce mostly fruits and vegetables that growers and individual farmers donate to worthy causes. The Kokua Harvest is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about local food production and either sharing various produce or picking produce to provide for local food banks or organizations that feed various causes.

There are many different volunteer organizations around the islands that make the effort to pick fruits or vegetables that might just go to waste and instead harvest them to feed the local community. Ripe and delicious fruits and vegetables that help to keep the various groups and food banks replenished with the efforts of volunteers and growers that offer up a variety of locally grown food.

Kokua Harvest – a helping hand to volunteering and feeding the local community with fresh produce direct from growers or individuals

What is Kokua Harvest?

This volunteer organization set up as an auxilary to the local food baskets serves as a much-needed group to provide for the local food banks and various organizations that feed the community. Fresh fruits and vegetables are picked regularly from generous farmers and individual growers that open up their places to volunteers to harvest produce that might just easily go to waste.

On this particular harvest picking, I was able to join one of the head organizers to harvest fresh ulu fruit from an individual who has a very productive ulu tree in Hilo, Hawaii.

How to pick ripe Ulu

With the help and quick orientation of Charlotte the lead organizer, I learn about the various tools used for picking and then finding out what ulu fruit is ripe for harvesting.

With the various ulu species grown on the islands, the most obvious tell signs to ripeness involves changing of color of the fruit from a bright green to more yellowish color, the lessening of bumping textures to a smoother texture and also the evidence of saturation of the sap leaching out of the fruit and softening of the fruit will tell you that it is ripe for picking.

After we cut down the fruit at the base of each stem, we let the liquid sap leach out into the ground and when it is finally dry, we wash the fruit out from the sap that has developed on the skin and then place them in containers and weigh each container to get a rough weight count which they will use for their stats. The super ripe ulu can be used for any fruit dessert recipes that want a sweeter taste.

Harvesting various fruits and vegetables

There is a calendar of fruits/veggies and locations on the Kokua website and you can sign up depending on your interest and time. You will get an orientation each time on the tools used and picking process for that particular produce that you will be picking that day.

Details to volunteering for Kokua Harvest

It’s easy to sign up and be a volunteer or if you also have fresh fruit on trees that you would like to give, you can also sign up as a grower. You easily fill out the appropriate form and then wait for an email invitation and then you can view the monthly calendar of what has been scheduled for picking in certain areas.

Here’s what to do

Check out the Kokua website here for more information

Fill out your application and enter your contact information and email.

Wait for the email acknowledgement and watch any of the videos that are on the website.

Check out the calendar of picking schedules and choose a date and time that works for you.

That’s it, very easy and the allocated time for picking is set at two hours and average number of pickers maximizes at 6 people. You can come early for an orientation and meet the organizer but it’s up to you to decide if you want to volunteer for the entire two hours. (The timeframe I was on the site, we harvested all the fruit that was ready and did it all in less that an hour and a half)

Donate locally

Places that you can donate food, time and resources on the islands include the various charities below that you can participate with.

Hawaii Food Bank

The Hawaii food basket

Da Bux – Hawaiian grown foods

Further reading Eco, growing and living on the islands

Check out these other topics that you may find interesting and educational

Eco tourism and sustainability on the islands

Be self sustainable in Hawaii

Plant a garden in Hawaii

Staying healthy and boost your immune system

Farmers markets in Hawaii

Lessons learned to living in Hawaii

Creating an Eco Friendly Kitchen in Hawaii

Conclusion on Volunteering with Kokua Harvest

This is a special time to live and celebrate life on the islands and be a part of the broader community and spend more time with family gatherings. If you have time to volunteer with Kokua Harvest, you will learn so much and also do something fantastic for the community and stocking up local food banks and local organizations that depend on our kokua.

Thanks for visiting This Hawaii Life, make sure to check out our other articles about travel and lifestyle here on the islands.