A virtual marketplace for local produce is now accepting online Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments, giving some low-income households more accessibility.
The federal SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, can be used to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables from the Kohala Food Hub. SNAP provides financial benefits to low-income households to buy food.
The Hawaiʻi Island group said the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service permitted it to accept SNAP payments, making it the first food hub in the state to offer the service.
The hub’s leadership said that’s a big deal because now SNAP users can join other customers in having produce delivered to satellite locations or even directly to their homes.
Kohala Food Hub began offering online payments to SNAP users in late September. Prior to that, those customers had to commute to Hāwi — near the northernmost part of Hawaiʻi Island — to process the SNAP payments in person and pick up the produce they ordered.
“Forty percent of our entire customer base, give or take, picks up at our Hāwi facility, but we’ve had constraints in our ability to be able to serve SNAP customers elsewhere up until now,” said Maya Parish, Kohala Food Hub’s executive director. “I mean, from Waikōloa Village to Hāwi to pick up, it would be an hour and a half roundtrip, for example. So that becomes prohibitive.”
Parish said the online payments make local produce more accessible to those who need it the most. It can now allow online ordering for customers in North Kohala, Waimea, Waikīloa, Kawaihae and along the Kohala coast.
She said some 600 customers total buy from the food hub, and many are SNAP users.
Kohala Food Hub also recently became a DA BUX partner. The local program, which is available to SNAP users, allows customers to buy local produce at a 50% discount.
Parish said the new offerings have already led to new customers, and she expects more to buy from the food hub.
