“Hands” is one of the four “H’s” of 4-H, and O‘ahu 4-H youth and volunteers have been putting their hands to good use in this time of high need! Over the past month, they’ve sewn more than 1,000 masks and donated them to health care workers, military personnel, postal workers, Extension agents and staff, houseless individuals, and more!

Two longtime members of the CTAHR ‘ohana are leaving for fresh adventures. Naomi Kanehiro, an Extension agent in Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences; and Nestor Dela Cruz, an agricultural technician at the Urban Garden Center, have dedicated their careers to CTAHR and will be missed.

MBBE’s Fermentation Biochemistry class, and their mock company 3Rewery, have donated more than 6 liters of hand sanitizer to the volunteers at the Urban Garden Center. Four liters went to the UGC’s Fruit Hui, a dedicated group of six volunteers who continue to meet every week to maintain the tropical fruit orchard and harvest fruit—which is entirely donated to the Hawaii Foodbank.

For years, a dedicated group of volunteers called the Fruit Hui has maintained the research orchard at CTAHR’s Urban Garden Center in Pearl City. Harvesting over 200 pounds of fresh tropical fruit a week, the volunteers donate all excess fruit to the Hawaii Foodbank. The group of certified Master Gardener volunteers plans to continue to harvest weekly now that access to fresh food has become even more critical during the COVID-19 crisis.

Healthcare workers are America’s frontline fighters in the war against COVD-19—but their supplies are getting desperately low. You can join CTAHR’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in helping to make washable, reusable masks that disposable N95 filters can be inserted in, which can significantly help protect the medical community and others who work with vulnerable populations.