E. Maui project receives grants via OHA, county

The Maui News
Monday, April 02, 2007
By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer


KIPAHULU - With more than $64,000 in grants, the Kipahulu community hopes to upgrade kitchen to spark economic development in rural East Maui.

The kitchen was set up to provide for commercial processing and packaging of fruits and vegetables grown around Kaupo and Kipahulu, including fresh produce as well as crops that can be turned into poi, coconut candy, kulolo, haupia, salad mixes, salsas, and jams and jellies.

But it needs additional equipment to be fully operational. The Kipahulu Community Association has been awarded $46,620 from the county's Office of Economic Development. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Community Based Economic Program has granted $17,760.

"Any money is well received," said Tweetie Lind, a caretaker for the "kitchen," which is actually a structure originally built by Maui County in 1996 as a water catchment system.

It has a roof over a concrete pad covering 2,300 square feet, about the size of a large three-bedroom house with a double-car garage. In 1999, the community enclosed a portion of the open structure to set up a 300-square-foot kitchen with a 60-square-foot utility room.

The kitchen is located in Kalena, about a mile past the Pools at Oheo section of Haleakala National Park.

Although the state certified the kitchen in August, Lind said more improvements are needed before it can be used for commercial purposes, including backup electrical power for refrigeration units. The facility has photovoltaic panels, but it needs more panels to provide sufficient electricity for daily use, and a backup generator.

The grants will also help pay for additional improvements to the plumbing and electrical systems.

Lind also said more outreach to the community is needed to formalize rules for use of the kitchen.

Additional supplies for the kitchen will be purchased, including pots, pans and utensils. Upgrades also will be provided for one piece of essential kitchen equipment - the poi grinder.

Judy Kinser, treasurer of the Kipahulu Community Association, said the facility can't be opened for commercial use until a user manual and rules for use are approved. The building has been used for community events and parties.

Lind said the kitchen is a valuable resource for the community.

"We among here, we the natives, we no more jobs," she said.

She said Haleakala National Park controls much of the land in the area, and members of the community came together to create the kitchen so they would be able to sell products made from crops grown on their lands.

"We can create jobs for our people," she said.

Her husband, John Lind, envisions using taro and other produce grown at the Kapahu Living Farm, run by the nonprofit Kipahulu Ohana on a cultural site within the national park.

The taro can be processed and turned into value-added products at the kitchen.

John Lind said coffee, kukui, guava and lilikoi are being grown in the area and could be processed into commercial products.