It’s National Volunteer Week and we are celebrating our amazing volunteers! Today’s Volunteer Spotlight is David Hubbard. David volunteers in our Regenerative Organic Breadfruit Agroforestry on the South Shore of Kauai.
Big congratulations to David Hubbard for his receipt of the President’s Volunteer Service Award! This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts their community and inspires those around them to take action, too. David uses his time and talent to help the world solve one of its toughest problems, hunger. Thanks for being exceptional, David!
David is a key member of our Breadfruit Institute team and food donation champion! If you’ve never heard of breadfruit before, it is an energy-rich food and a good source of complex carbohydrates, fiber, and minerals. David assists NTBG scientists in maintaining, harvesting, and collecting data on breadfruit crops in our Regenerative Organic Breadfruit Agroforestry project. After the data is collected, he brings the harvest to the Kaua’i Independent Food Bank.
When David isn’t harvesting breadfruit, he can be found in the water on his bodyboard. That’s because he is an eight-time bodyboarding world champion! David’s Bodyboard company, Hubboards, donates a portion of their profits from their DubZero Swimfins to the Breadfruit Institute. David’s dedication doesn’t stop there; he also leads Breadfruit Institute education and outreach programs throughout the Kauai community.
Thanks for all you do, David!
Founded in 2003, the Breadfruit Institute promotes the conservation, study, and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation. The Institute is a global leader in efforts to conserve and use breadfruit diversity to support regenerative agriculture, food security, and economic development in the tropics and serves as the international center for breadfruit research and information resources. The Institute curates, studies, and conserves the world’s largest repository of breadfruit diversity—150 cultivars—at NTBG’s Kahanu Garden, Maui, and McBryde Garden, Kauai.
The Breadfruit Institute is also engaged in a Global Hunger Initiative to respond to critical global food security issues and deforestation by expanding plantings of good quality breadfruit varieties in tropical regions. This work is central to our participation in the Alliance to End Hunger—a coalition of 90 corporations, non-profit organizations, universities, individuals, and religious groups working to end hunger domestically and internationally.