Sponsor Spotlight: Keala Menza with PATCH Hawai’i
Sponsor of Family Child Care Homes
June 29, 2026
Keala Menza is the Food Program Manager at PATCH Hawai’i, a child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agency that supports families and child care providers. As a CCR&R, PATCH helps parents find child care and provides subsidies for families, and they also support potential child care providers by providing support for the business and ongoing training. PATCH also operates as the only CACFP Sponsor of family child care homes (FCCH) in Hawai’i.
PATCH sponsors 143 FCCHs across the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island. PATCH employs program specialists on each island to monitor and provide technical assistance to all FCCHs on their home island. With the support of PATCH, their sponsored FCCHs provide nutritious meals to almost 1,000 children each day.
After 19 years working with school-age children, Keala began working with pre-school children, where she first learned about the CACFP. She now serves as the Food Program Manager for PATCH. In her day-to-day, Keala conducts monitoring visits on Oahu, provides technical assistance, and oversees PATCH’s team of specialists. She also conducts annual in-person training on each island, as well as an online training opportunity. Keala credits PATCH’s success to the comprehensive technical assistance provided and the respectful way it is delivered, especially given the unique circumstances they encounter.
“We try to ensure that everybody is successful in the program and build relationships with them. I think that helps us be really successful rather than just treating our providers as a name on paper. Then, if our providers are happy, then the children benefit.”
Establishing this positive foundation, Keala and her team emphasize their role as a resource contributing to the providers’ s success.
“I always try to reiterate that we’re there to support them. If there are things that need to be corrected, we’re there to help them correct those things. Really, we just want everyone to be successful.”
Relationship building is what Keala views as the key to any Sponsor’s success. She thinks it's best to approach providers with sentiments like, “how can we help you be successful,” rather than “you have to do this.” PATCH frames the food program as an opportunity for providers’ businesses and the children they serve, rather than an additional burden on their shoulders.
“The first thing I like to tell them is how the food program will improve the quality of their child care. It takes stress off the parents because they don’t have to pack food for the children. Parents will be more likely to enroll in their child care, if they’re offering healthy food for the children.
Although the reimbursement doesn’t cover all of the food and labor costs to provide meals, it’s still a benefit to the provider. Providing nutritious meals is an indicator of quality child care and thus makes their business more appealing to families. They find that participating in the food program helps with their budget and provides training to help them improve the meal quality.
“The reimbursement won’t cover everything, but if you want this quality in your program and you want the children to have these healthy foods, participating in the food program really helps.”
Keala has also seen the nutrition education from the CACFP seep into the personal lives of the providers and their own families. Through the CACFP, providers receive nutrition training that provides them with knowledge that the general public doesn’t have, which they implement in their lives.
“Our providers tell me that the families they serve also end up eating healthier because of the information that’s shared through this program. It benefits everyone all around.”
Of all the benefits of the food program, it’s the health benefit to the children that keeps Keala motivated to work in the CACFP. With a culturally diverse population in Hawai’i, Keala has seen how children are introduced to foods that they may never have an opportunity to try. The introduction of new foods and the creation of healthy habits set a foundation for the rest of children’s lives.
“The children and the benefits that they receive in the program are what keep me motivated. The food program provides a foundation at an early age so that children can build upon that. I believe in the purpose of the program to get children healthier, and it ends up helping everyone make healthier choices. I think it does make a difference for the children.”
In Hawai'i, Keala has been with PATCH for three years.