Over the past four years, HPA’s two campus gardens — Ulu Mālama Terrace Farm at the Upper Campus and Ulumau Garden at the K-8 Village Campus — have donated more than 15,000 pounds of fresh produce to seven community partners serving families across the region. “It’s something we’re really honored to be able to do,” says Ulu Mālama Terrace Farm Manager Willie Quayle, “but it wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community.”
Seeding, planting, growing, tending, harvesting, and delivering that much food takes many hands, and many hours.This work is made possible thanks to community support: both the foundation partners who fund our garden interns, and the many parent and HPA ‘ohana volunteers who contribute sweat equity at community work days.
Currently funded through the generosity of The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation and the WHH Foundation, this initiative aims to address food insecurity in Waimea and Kohala by bridging HPA’s high-yield campus gardens with local partners.
“HPA’s steady contributions to our food bank have been wonderful for us and the families we serve, providing much needed fresh, healthy produce,” said Laurie Ainslie, a longtime HPA trustee who manages the Kokua Christian Ministries Food Pantry.
The program not only contributes to addressing immediate nutritional needs but also focuses on building skills and capacity for the interns involved. Over three years, HPA has mentored six garden interns, including Salena Reinhardt. Reinhardt is completing her bachelor’s degree in Horticulture Business Management at SUNY Morrisville in New York and joins us this year as an intern to complete her degree requirements. “I have learned so many things… from sustainable practices and no till gardening to the huge importance of giving back to the community,” Reinhardt says. “My favorite part about the internship is being able to educate, work with, and learn from all of the various aged students. They truly make everything fun and a learning experience!”
HPA’s steady contributions to our food bank have been wonderful for us and the families we serve, providing much-needed fresh, healthy produce.”
Laurie Ainslie, HPA trustee who manages the Kokua Christian Ministries Food Pantry
Garden interns receive a stipend, funded through foundation grants, in addition to a comprehensive agricultural apprenticeship, equipping them with both wisdom and practical skills. “The internship program really has three primary goals,” Quayle explains. “To learn about sustainable agriculture and regenerative farming practices, to gain experience as an educator by designing and implementing garden-based lessons, and to build relationships within our community through food distribution.”
HPA currently grows and donates more than 30 kinds of food crops, including carrots, kale, lemons, papaya, sweet potatoes, bananas, and beans… in addition to herbs and cut flowers. Students at both campuses are deeply invested in the work.
“I love working in the garden!” says Levi Furchner ’25. “This year in our Sustainable Food Systems class I’ve been able to plant and harvest food for our community, I’ve explored the Hawaiian Lunar calendar and how to plant with the moon phases, and I’ve learned elements of landscape design.”
The gardens are a curricular priority for HPA, nurturing a deep respect for the earth, for food, and for meaningful work. Through garden classes and extracurricular programming, students learn basic garden protocol, safe harvesting and washing practices, no-till gardening methodology, integrated pest management, and zero waste processing – in addition to the history, culture, and growing habits of the plants they tend.
“Being in the garden makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something good,” Furchner notes, “no matter what else happens in my day.”
HPA is deeply grateful to The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation and the WHH Foundation for supporting this program.