When Hamakua Springs had an unexpected tomato surplus recently, Richard called over to the county building and said he had some extra tomatoes he wanted to give to county workers.

Dayday Hopkins, Economic Development Specialist at the Hawai‘i County Department of Research and Development, says she asked Richard how many tomatoes he was talking about. “I thought it was a case or two,” she said, “but he asked how many departments we have.”

“He went hog wild in sharing,” she said. “He gave us like 25 cases. Who gives away 25 cases of tomatoes? For him to do that, it really makes you feel good that there’s a business person who is not only for himself and his business but also wants to share with the rest of the people that touch him.”

Richard says sometimes they give extra tomatoes to the local schools their grandchildren attend: Kalaniana‘ole Elementary, Keaukaha Elementary and Kea‘au Middle School.

“Or schools that are having a hard time with the ‘No Child Left Behind’ thing,” says Richard. “We give to the teachers and staff and try to do a morale booster kind of thing.”

Last month, though, when they had a lot of extra cocktail tomatoes, Richard sent some to the Hawai‘i Island Food Bank and then took the rest to the Hawai‘i County Building.

He explains that sometimes there’s an unexpected short spike in production due to timing–one crop comes into production as another is going out. “Because we harvest the tomatoes when they’re vine ripe,” he says, “we cannot hold them very long when that happens and we have to move them quickly.”

“The reason we chose the county workers,” says Richard, “is because they are pretty much not recognized for the work they do and we wanted to acknowledge their hard work.”

Dayday couldn’t say enough nice things about Richard. “We ask him for donations of bananas when we have fundraisers for the schools, and other community activities, and he’s always open and accommodating,” she said. “Mr. Ha is just one of those unique breed of farmers and people. June was here, too, and as goodhearted as the husband. I couldn’t believe she got up in the pickup truck and was getting out cases of tomatoes. She said, ‘Yeah, I have to help.’”

Richard took some cases to the Department of Water Supply, which isn’t located in the county building. Dayday got some help and took the rest around to offices in the County building: Planning, Parks and Recreation, Civil Service, Finance, Office of the Aging, Corporation Council and others.

She says some of the workers were surprised and even suspicious when handed containers of tomatoes. “They asked me, ‘Are you selling them?’ I told them, ‘Mr. Ha wants to share his bounty of tomatoes for you to taste and enjoy. He has a big heart; he just really wants to share with the people in the county because he said the county has been very nice to him.’” Others, she said, were surprised they were such beautiful, perfect tomatoes and not “seconds,” or tomatoes that weren’t good enough to sell.

Dayday even sent some to the mayor’s office, where they were a hit. The mayor Harry Kim called her and asked if there was any way he could get two more. (He got them.)

In these last two photos, that’s Dayday with Pat Koga, executive secretary to Planning Director Chris Yuen, and then with Andy Levin, executive director to Mayor Kim.

Dayday took her tomatoes home. “My husband eats tomatoes like grapes. And I cut some up and made a green salad.”

She also shares her recipe for a salsa she makes. She chops up Hamakua Springs cocktail tomatoes with a pinch of cilantro, some green onions and sea salt, and puts that salsa over her special fried rice: “I buy poke, cut it a little smaller and sauté it with garlic. Then cook it with rice, soy sauce, and put the salsa over it.”

“Ha ha ha!” she said as she recounted the recipe. Our kind of person! — posted by Leslie Lang