When Ashley Lukens, then a graduate student at the University of Hawaii, met Frances Moore Lappé, she had the inklings of an idea: help launch a Hawaii State Food Policy Council. The Fund supported a “listening tour” on the mainland to help Lukens and her colleagues learn about best practices in food policy councils and make much needed connections. Lukens has since become a founding member of the new Hawaii Food Policy Council, which is improving access to good, healthy foods for all islanders and is a leading voice in banning the GMOs encroaching on the islands.