HAWAII – When five Hawaii fisherman took to sea, they had one goal in mind: feeding their local health care workers.
One of the fishermen was Kyle Nakamoto, the executive producer of the diving show Hawaii Skin Diver TV, who told CNN the lucky group caught two yellowfin tuna totaling 220 pounds.
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The massive tuna was sent to a seafood distributor who cleaned, cooked, and prepared the tuna into more than 300 poke bowls, which were then delivered to Honolulu's Straub Medical Center and The Queen's Medical Center.
"Our staff at Straub Medical Center has been overwhelmed by the support and generosity displayed for our health care workers who have been on the frontlines of this pandemic caring for our patients and our community," Straub Medical Center chief operating officer Travis Clegg told CNN in a statement.
"We are so grateful for all the donations we have received for our health care workers. This particular donation of fresh ahi was especially thoughtful, and we appreciate the hard work and effort that went into catching it and preparing such a wonderful meal for our teams."
Nakamoto and his team were inspired to do good for their community after witnessing another local fisherman, 104-year-old Setsuo Todoroki, regularly catch fish he then donated to strangers in need.
"He passed away last month and was really the inspiration of the project. We did it in his legacy," Nakamoto told CNN.
"It was an amazing opportunity. Giving away two whole yellowfin tuna is a really big thing, this is top of the line, grade-A tuna. We just wanted to do something for the workers at our local hospitals to thank them for everything they are doing for us."
The group also filmed an episode for Hawaii Skin Diver TV showing their journey catching the tuna for health care workers. The episode will air on Tuesday on Hawaiian TV channel Spectrum OC16.