Bikes, Food, and Family

 Although the pandemic has presented many challenges, one thing that our KVIBE youth program has been successfully able to do is continue fostering connections and gratitude. KVIBE, which stands for Kalihi Valley Instructional Bike Exchange, is one of KKV’s youth programs that uses bicycling as a medium for health and health education.  

Over the holiday season, KVIBE was able to end the year with a youth favorite: Community Dinner Night where parents and members of the community are invited to eat dinner together. The event has allowed our families to safely reconnect and share space again. It is a cherished opportunity for KVIBE youth and their families to come together and celebrate in community with one another.  

The event is youth-led wherein they get to demonstrate leadership through organizing while also expressing gratitude for the hard work of their families and community partners who support them in their journeys. It is also the youth who harvest produce and prepare the meals for these events fostering their connection to land and nutritional food that many otherwise cannot get at home. This improves our youth’s sense of self, reminding them they are supported by a larger whole. Families and community members who join also feel more closely connected to the youth and the program.  

During the event there are also other activities including a free clothing drive and karaoke. One of our KVIBE interns shared that during his first Community Dinner Night he had found the experience so inspiring because of the ways it reminded him of traditional gatherings back on his home island where the community feasts and feeds so many people. “KVIBE’s Community Dinner Night is the only place that I’d see that did that so I fell in love with the space and I kept on coming.” 

Even our parents have expressed their thanks for the event with folks sharing sentiments like " I am grateful for this place for my son to come". Another parent said, " thank you for including us and for the food".