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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Kids and pets make everything better..."}]

Smile 26 9 29

<title>Daily Smile: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026</title>

Kids and pets make everything better...

Daily Smile: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Business & Tourism

 is celebrating its 65th anniversary with discounted chili plates on Oct. 2 only. Customers can get the business’s signature chili plate (regular price $13.25 at Kapahulu location, $13.50 at Pearlridge Center location) for $6.50; the deal will be all day at the Kapahulu store and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pearlridge Center store.

The plate features ground beef, kidney beans and garlic simmered with the eatery’s special blend of spices and herbs, according to marketing director Crystine Ito. All plate lunches come with two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad.

“It’s (the chili) something Rainbow Drive-In served from the beginning,” she says. “It’s the same recipe, the same prep; they cook chili every day. It’s something they’re proud of; it’s very local comfort food.”

Customers who stop by Rainbow Drive-In’s locations will also have the chance to meet third generation-owner Chris Iwamura from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pearlridge location, and from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Kapahulu location. During this timeframe, customers can also enter to win prize giveaways like stickers, lanyards, keychains and gift cards, according to Ito.

“The big prize will be the $65 gift card, in honor of 65 years,” she says. “It’s kind of the grand prize; we will have a few of these (gift cards) to give away.”

On Oct. 2, the business will also be launching its new 65th anniversary shirts. The shirts will be available to purchase at Rainbow Drive-In Kapahulu and online (

“This is a special design that our friends at Project X made,” Ito says. “It’s made with the three generations in mind — there’s three cars, they’re showing three generations with three surfboards, and three bikes.

“Our other logo shirt has our 65th Infinity logo,” she adds. “Quintin (from Hype Graphics) did our 65th anniversary logo; he also did our 60th logo.”

Ito notes that it was important to Iwamura to celebrate the business’s milestone year.

“It’s not 75 (years), but he’s (Iwamura’s) proud he gets to continue the legacy,” Ito says. “He really wants the family business to continue.”

Rainbow Drive In Crystine Ito 092826

<title>Rainbow Drive-In is celebrating 65 years with $6.50 chili plates</title>

The eatery is offered discounted chili plates on Friday, Oct. 2, all day at its Kapahulu location and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its Pearlridge Center location. Customers will also have the chance to win prize giveaways and meet Rainbow Drive-In third generation owner Chris Iwamura. The business’s 65th anniversary shirts will also be for sale starting that day at its Kapahulu location and online.

Rainbow Drive-In is celebrating 65 years with $6.50 chili plates

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

An ongoing initiative between Chick-fil-A restaurants in Hawaiʻi and nonprofit 

 is simultaneously helping to divert thousands of pounds of foods from landfills, while making meals for community members in need.

’s corporate social responsibility strategy, has equipped 

Owner-Operators to donate surplus food to charitable organizations in their community since 2012. To date, 50 million meals have been created across the country by more than 2,700 restaurants.

The program launched in the Islands in fall 2022, ahead of the first Chick-fil-A restaurant opening on Oʻahu in Ala Moana Center’s Makai Market Food Court.

“It was as easy as a phone call, but it’s not every day you get a call like that,” 

Aloha Harvest Executive Director Mele Pepa Latu told Aloha State Daily. “They wanted to learn more about what Aloha Harvest does, what our needs were and how they could help. I just remember excitement around it and what it meant to the team.”

“And several years and stores later, they still show up in different ways, whether that

” she continued. “It’s just like one big family, and in Hawai

ʻi, family is everything, and I think food is right up there, too.”

As of July, Chick-fil-A restaurants in Hawai

have helped divert 70,251 pounds of food from landfills, while creating 64,505 meals from surplus food, according to the company. Latu estimates 

location donates on average 100 to 300 pounds per week, or 1,099 pounds of food combined in total.

Aloha Harvest drivers pick up surplus food from all participating 

Chick-fil-A restaurants, among other donors, and deliver the food for it to be repurposed and consumed that same day, according to Latu. For Chick-fil-A, the food donated Monday through Friday benefits nonprofit 

There can be up to 80 food donors per day, seven days a week, she said, adding, “It’s a big logistical puzzle, but we have it down to a T and can still fit in on-call donations.” Aloha Harvest has nearly 20 staff and over 1,000 

Established in 1999, the nonprofit has redistributed more than 46 million pounds of food altogether.

Chick-fil-A Kamokila Owner-Operator Nick Lovan

, partnering with Aloha Harvest has been a blessing. His role is to ensure that the donated food is safe before it goes out.

Chick-fil-A has a very high standard when it comes to food safety… So anytime we have a surplus, we have to make sure that it gets to a certain temperature within a certain amount of time. That’s something all my leads are trained on. Chick-fil-A helped teach us this process when we first opened.”

 will celebrate its one-year anniversary this Thursday with a community event.

When asked what Lovan prioritized in the first year, he said, “continuing to know guests and serve them better.”

He’s also spent time investing in his 80 staff members, who primarily live on the west side, he noted. Through a partnership with Cumberland University

, 10 employees will get online college classes and book materials for free, he said.

As a leader, Lovan hopes to continue making a positive influence on the community and those he serves with.

“I hope our relationship continues to grow with Aloha Harvest. I’m very excited for the future.”

Latu is also hopeful for the future — Aloha Harvest recently surpassed its fundraising goal of $120,000 at its Fuel the Rescue Gala to invest in a new refrigerated truck, which will join its fleet of trucks and vans distributing food around the island.

When asked what this will allow the organization to accomplish, she said that though it will take six months to a year to build, “it is going to allow us to increase the amount of food we pick up and our capacity.”

“I’m learning to have grace with myself, ask for help and lean on my team,” Latu said. “I am thankful that Chick-fil-A found Aloha Harvest, and that it is committed to helping our neighbors in need.”

Shared Table 171

<title>Aloha Harvest and Chick-fil-A partnership combats food waste, hunger</title>

The Chick-fil-A Shared Table program turns surplus food into free meals for local organizations and individuals. Aloha State Daily spoke with a couple of the local leaders involved to learn more about the process and overall impact.

Aloha Harvest and Chick-fil-A partnership combats food waste, hunger

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Government & Politics

When fire swept through Lahaina on Aug. 8, 2023, the banyan tree on Front Street remained standing, shielding the buildings behind it from the flames.

Only a small portion of the tree trunk caught fire, and that’s because it was near a post that caught fire, Duane Sparkman, chair of the Maui County Arborist Committee, told Aloha State Daily this summer.

, on Maui in June, ahead of the third anniversary of the fire, which killed more than 100 people and destroyed much of Lahaina town.

And while it survived the fire, the banyan, planted more than 150 years ago, was dried out by the ambient heat from the inferno engulfing neighboring buildings.

All of that heat, says Sparkman, “was basically microwaving the tree; it was cooking the tree.”

According to the arborist, the banyan itself saved the harbor bathrooms behind it, blocking the heat and the brunt force of the fire, and stopping the flames from reaching the building.

[{"type":"text","text":"Today, the banyan is still on the mend, and will be for a while."}]

Sparkman told ASD that following an assessment with arborists in May, it was decided to keep the banyan fenced off for another two years.

“It’s going to be two years of healing still for that tree,” he says. “It really needs it. It does. It’s hard to say how truly damaged the inside of the tree is because the species that it is can literally wrap itself around the branches and start to heal itself. But we’re nervous about the interior heartwood of the tree, so if that heartwood is at all damaged by borer beetles or twig borers, then we have a problem and it becomes fragile, then the public’s at risk, so we have to wait. But that's OK. It needs it.”

These trees can live to be 1,000-plus years old, Sparkman says, so at 153 years old, “it’s still a baby and it just went through a fire, so let’s give it a break.”

Although the tree is fenced off, you can still view it from the street. On a recent walk along Front Street, there were a number of visitors stopping to take a look — from a respectable distance, of course.

Sparkman says that by keeping the tree closed to the public for two more years, "it'll allow that tree to not be climbed on. It'll allow that tree to set aerial roots into the soil and pull more nutrients and heal faster. Those are the No. 1 factors. There's less compaction from human interaction, so the roots can actually heal faster and distributes nutrient throughout the tree faster. So, there's a lot of reasons why we want to keep people out of it."

He said, too the tree had "a lot of scars" from people carving into it, "so we know that's going to come back, and our thing is to reduce that for a while, let that healing go throughout the tree, all the way up into the upper canopy. It is still 56 feet tall. [The fire] didn't burn the tree. The tree is completely alive, so the whole entire canopy is regrowing. It's just this upper canopy is growing much slower than the lower canopy, and since we're seeing that, that's what makes us [say], 'OK, we're going to slow down access to the public.'"

Since the fires, more than a dozen "air layers" have been pulled from the tree, some of which are on display at Maui resorts. While Sparkman says that the original intent was to plant them back into the park, "we don't know what we're going to do with them. They don't belong to me. They don't belong to Treecovery. They belong to all of us in Maui County. We pay our taxes and the taxes maintain the tree, so they're public assets."

When asked if this is where he thought the recovery of the banyan would be three years post-fire, Sparkman says he had "no idea" and has no expectations, having never been through this experience before.

, the banyan was planted on April 24, 1873, by Sheriff William Owen Smith. The sapling was a gift from missionaries in India and was planted to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina, HHF notes.

Daily Smile: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026

Authors

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