PA`UPENA CDC RECEIVES $58,395 FROM OHA
KULA, Maui, Hawai`i — A Keokea homesteader has been named project manager of a $58,395 grant program funded by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA).
Theresa Hi`ilei Martinson will assume her duties Sept. 1 for the OHA-funded Project MAHI`AI, an Amazon-style distribution system for native-grown products. The Upcountry Maui-based nonprofit, Pa`upena Community Development Corporation (CDC), is executing the grant project.
Martinson is a Keokea homelands farmer of taro, bananas, squash and native mamaki tea. She is a Kamehameha Schools Kapalama alumna with undergraduate and M.A. in Hawaiian studies degrees from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.
Martinson will help design and will operate a Project MAHI`AI online platform for consumers to order and for farmers and ranchers to deliver their products, including vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs and dairy. The program will provide garden-fresh produce, such as mangoes and dragon fruit from a native Hawaiian veteran farmer at Waiohuli homestead; eggplant and tomatoes from a Keokea homelands cultivator, and honey from a Waiehu Kou 4 homestead beekeeping family. Products will carry the Grown by the Native Community label.
“COVID has changed the economic landscape,” said Thomas Emmsley of Waiehu Kou 4 homestead’s honey-producing firm, Kihapai Horticultural LLC. “Thus, native farmers need an initiative like Project MAHI`AI,” he said.
The Maui program is set to go online on or after Nov. 1 and will be open to islandwide consumers, including visitors. For information, contact Martinson at (808) 779-5143 or email: projectmahiai@gmail.com.
OHA funding supports the Native Hawaiian community through OHA Iwi Kupuna Repatriation & Reinterment Program grants. The grants reinforce and strengthen Native Hawaiian `ohana (family), mo`omeheu (culture) and `aina (land and water). The purpose of Project MAHI`AI is to serve the Native Hawaiian lahui (nation or people) in alignment with the strategic foundations, directions and outcomes of a 15-year Mana I Mauoli Ola (Power to Native Life) Strategic Plan.
Keokea homestead farmer Hi`ilei Martinson has been named project manager of the OHA-funded Project MAHI`AI. Set to debut later this year, the program will be an Amazon-style system of farmer-to-consumer online ordering and in-person delivery of native-grown farm-and-ranch products.