Our ancestors started from nothing and had to build self-sustaining communities to feed and care for all the community, which they did. Early Polynesians grew all the food they needed for survival. What happened? Hawai’i has become so reliant on importing products in order to survive. Now, over 90% of the food and supplies we need to survive are imported from all over the world. Meanwhile only 10% of the food we eat are grown on the island. Not only is 10% the amount we grow but also the food we do grow doesn’t stay local. Things such as pineapple, sugarcane, macadamia nuts, and coffee are exported to all over the world. Now imagine if something happens to our importing system, what would happen in Hawai’i? Would we be able to survive and thrive? Would we have enough food and farms on our island to sustain life? With over a million people on our island alone, we definitely would not have enough food and resources to sustain our entire island.
Our limited resources to survive without imported products has inspire Hui Mana 'Ai, four seniors in Papa Mālama Honua, to produce a student lead and organized farmer's market hosted at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama. We have decided to create a Kamehameha Schools farmer’s market in order to promote sustainability as well as the concept of community, not only the Kamehameha community but reaching out to others. We believe it will help to advocate eating/ buying local, the Hawaiian culture, and giving back to the community that has given so much.
Why and how it will benefit Kamehameha?
This would ultimately benefit Kamehameha by giving the profit back to the school, allowing clubs and classes to fundraise, learn from experience and perform, and hopefully be able to make additional scholarships for students. It would also benefit the school by giving the community a chance to see what we have to offer. It can help alumni, family and friends to make connections as well as be able to learn more about Hawaiians and their community. Besides the obvious monetary profit from the farmer’s market, students would have the chance to learn about entrepreneurship, starting a business and the sustainable community. People from all around would also have the chance to learn and experience Hawaiian traditions and locally grown products. Lastly, everyone would have the opportunity to make connections on a deeper level which has the chance to impact the future of our growing community.
Our Continued Efforts
Our vision has been a long ongoing process. It began with an idea that turned into reality. Our process began with making proposals first to share with our teacher Christopher Blake, then improving that first draft to share with the heads of all the departments. Along the process we began to get vendors, location, and entertainment in mind while proposing our idea. Many times throughout this process we met with Alison Leary, Head of Operations, to get a better idea about when and where it would be possible to host our event. She always gave us very good feedback from trash/ disposal to location due to safety and resources and more. When it became a big thing, we had to begin to solidify our name and brand as well as begin to contact people who were interested in being apart of our market. We went to multiple farmer's market handing out cards, taking notes on their procedures and set-ups, talking to management about how they ran their markets, etc. Even though we knew our event would not be as big as the farmer's markets we visited it was good to get exposure and ideas/feedback about the things we need to do to accomplish our goal. After getting the go-ahead by teachers and staff, we knew Standing Operating Procedures was a big part that had to be completed. Due to the fact that we are hosted on Kamehameha Schools, a multimillion dollar organization, there was a lot of potential risks. We had to assure that everything we did would be accounted for.
After our event had become approved we had to really work on the market itself. Trinity and Chloe along with Coach Chris worked on solidifying a location where the event would take place. Our first thought was Konia field. Following meetings and serious conditions, Konia field was not the best area due to the field itself which could get messed up, safety of our boarders, and allowing strangers complete access to our entire campus. Our final decision was the elementary courtyard for the following reasons: it kept the event contained, allowed access only to the beginning of our campus keeping our boarders safe, it had ample space, a good set-up, and had electricity if needed. Our continued communication with vendors and entertainment was slowly coming together as people were very willing to support our event especially due to the fact it was student ran and led. After securing the location we spent a lot of time planning the details such as drawing out and mapping each slot, restrooms situations, electricity, etc. In fact, we went down to elementary a few weeks in advance and drew each slot with chalk including our own and the bigger space for food trucks. We also planned where the entertainment would be. This gave us a much better idea of how everything was going to look and be on that day.
Advertising our event was a big and important step in our process. If we got the vendors and entertainers, our goal and vision wouldn't be possible without the people and supporters that would attend. We then had a meeting with Kyle Galdeira and Lindsey Chun-Hori, the Kamehameha Schools Communications head, who really helped us to improve our social media and advertising. They gave us many tips on how to get our name out faster. They also began to mention us on the Kamehameha Schools social media and more. We also made fliers to be emailed to all students and to be put up around campus. In order for this to happen we had to get it approved by multiple principles.
The final steps was meeting with all the headmasters and principles of our campus to make sure our event was approved. We also got mentioned on KITV4 news where they interviewed our members and took film in class. Our entertainment wasn't a problem getting although we did have problems with confirming our vendors. Everyone turned in their paperwork and payment on time although due to the fact it's hosted on Kamehameha Schools, each vendor was suppose to have proof of insurance to secure that our organization would be protected. When we found out about this it was the week of our farmer's market so it made us very nervous to have to ask Dr. Chun if we could still do this one event without everyone having insurance. Our last few details the week of which we completed included signage, the brochure, and maps. Maps were important to make sure people knew where it was on our campus since it's so big. These maps would be handed out to visitors at front gate. Our signage was important to keep everything enclosed and make sure people knew which tent was ours, where the restrooms were, both regular and handicap, and more. The brochure had background information about our group as well as our vision, all the vendors and entertainers that were attending with a site plan. This would be handed to every person attending our farmer's market.
April 28, 2019 - Farmer's Market
Today was the big day, we finally were able to put our months of work into action. We met at the elementary campus at 5:40 and began to set up our signs and information booth. The vendors began to arrive at 6:15, we staggered their entrance because the space limit. We all helped to unload their cars and set up. Eight o’clock came very fast, we had some had a minor set back with rain in the firsy hour but that didnt stop people from coming. The musisians began to play and we kicked things off. Around 10:30 the crowds picked up. By 11 one of our vendors had completly sold out, and everyone was doing well. We met so many supportive people, and got so many comments about the amazing work we put into this event. KITV News even came back and and Trinity was interviewed again. At the end of the event we exceeded our goal of 200 people, we hit approximatly 300. From parents and almuni, faculty and staff, even boarders came down to enjoy some ono food and music. Some of our biggest sellers were, Hauoli Pastries, Taylored Creations, and Papa Lens Food Truck. At 12:00 we began to help everyone breakdown and load up their cars. I talked to all of the vendors in the end, and they all said they are excited for the next market, all in all it was a huge win for us. We had achived our goal, and made history at Kamehameha, we left are mark, and truly hope this event will continue on throughout the years.
Following the Markets and Future Steps
The market was a huge success for us, the vendors all had a great time and asked when the next one was going to be. So we began planning for the next one. We sent out a feedback form to all the vendors to see what things we did well and where we could use some work. They all said that our communication, organization, and management was very good. They did suggest that we collect fees ahead of time so that people can't drop, or if they do we are not loosing out on money, they also suggested that we bring the tents closer together so there is not so much blank space. Finally they suggested a then with tables and chairs in the middle for people to sit and enjoy the food and music. We are taking all of these suggestions into consideration and planning for June 22 for the next market. We been reaching out to students who share similar interest in sustainability and entrpenuership for next year to help take the lead in this hui, we are also reaching out to various teachers in including their classes with the market.