Hold on Maui, Help is on the Way - Wildfire Crisis Donations and Helpful Resources
Erika Smith ??
Amateur Journalist - Holistic Wellness Sustainability & Indigenous Culture
| Maui | Lahaina | Wildfires | Crisis Relief | Disaster Response | Teams | Community | Donations | Help | Give | Pray | Love |
>>>Please share with anyone you know in Maui, Hawaii who may need help finding resources and with anyone who may be able to donate or volunteer. At this time people are being asked NOT to travel to Maui, but if you are already part of a relief effort/organization or know someone who is on the island looking to be part of the solution, on the ground help is still being requested locally. And keep in mind, if you're not able to go now, more opportunities may open up as future clearance is given. You can also reference this article for several local stewardship and sustainability initiatives already in place and I highly recommend supporting these efforts.<<<
Knowing some of my distant kin live on the islands of Hawaii, my heart breaks for the survivors of the Maui wildfires who are struggling to cope with the new realities they're facing. There are still many looking for family members; looking for shelter; still trying to pick up the pieces of their broken homes, missing cars and a lost community they once knew.
Some are frustrated with the lack of help they've received and are feeling hopeless, but huge efforts are on the way and I want to encourage the residents of Maui to hold on to hope and know that help is coming to you soon. So many hearts in the US and abroad are mourning with you and want to help share your burden. I'm sure its harder than I can imagine, but please remain hopeful and continue being patient. As said in today's briefing, “Things are going to get a little better every day.”
If you're someone who's in a position to help, but not sure where to go or how you can help, I've come up with a list of resources where you can donate or get involved in other ways such as volunteering.
Officially recommended fund:1
Hawaii Community Foundation – Maui Strong Fund (donations)
“The Maui Strong Fund is providing resources that can be deployed quickly, with a focus on rapid response and recovery for the devastating wildfires on Maui.”
100 percent of the funds go to community needs.
Funds will help in the following ways:
Maui Strong Fund Grantees (list of charitable organizations helping)
A full list of Maui Strong Fund Grantees is listed here with more detailed descriptions of actions each is taking. Grantees include larger organizations such as The Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as others, including already existing local support centers such as shelters and food banks (in Maui). Here is a quick recap of some of the ways they are helping:
[Previously listed Red Cross. Please visit their website for information and resources]
***Per the request of several locals speaking on behalf of community members, please send donations directly to local Hawaiian charities.***
Hawaiian Council (donations)
“CNHA is partnering with Native Hawaiian and community organizations and businesses to match up to $1.5 Million in donations for ?ohana impacted by the devastating wildfires on Maui.” - CNHA
āina Momona / Kaaina Momona (donations)
“A lāhui committed to creating a sustainable Hawai?i”
If you visit this website you have a really great option of choosing families you want to help and knowing exactly how your funds will be used to help them. You will see fundraisers for family members' names like...
“We encourage people to give directly to these families who have lost everything.”2
They also accept donations for Kōkua Maui (funds go to Maui Strong Fund as mentioned at top of article).
Learn more about ‘āina Momona... You can learn more about history, programs, events, petitions, and more and their intentions to restore native Hawaiian traditions.
“‘āina Momona...has four primary program areas that the organization focuses on: ‘āina (land and environmental health), ‘Ai (food and agriculture), Wai (water) and Ea (sovereign, resistance and social justice).”
Watch Luluku farmers, families and kids come together in heart-warming and cheerful community projects here: Restoring Luluku
I'd like to highlight one group in particular from the earlier Grantees list...
REC – Regenerative Education Centers is actually in Lahaina and was amazingly spared from the fires and is lending space (25acres) to create off-grid shelters intended for longer-term help of displaced residents with the end goal of making residents off-grid capable on their own land (where their houses used to be) and is working in cooperation with FEMA for staging relief efforts, coordinating volunteers, and providing food from the farm, etc.
You can find out more about the Regenerative Education Center here and the work they are doing to provide more sustainable methods of living to Islanders:
The following quote is from REC Executive Director, Eddy Garcia who also owns Living Earth Systems, LLC:
“We need to be helping each other and we can't necessarily rely on the government to do it. They're so overwhelmed right now that we need to stand our own two feet. I live off-grid. I live this way. I grow food so I can help feed you and share what we have...We're here to help. 100% of everything that comes in [to recenters.org] goes directly to our community. Come help, come be helped!”
领英推荐
(Watch the full message on YouTube: New Olowalu Off-Grid Shelter for Maui Fire Relief (donations + volunteers needed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9p4yB86kY )
This statement is similar to a response I gave someone the other day who was complaining of not getting help. I'm not saying this to be callous, but as a caution. When there is crisis after crisis, and half of the world is on fire, you can't always expect the other half of the world to show up right away. It's great when they can, but doing so may result in greater despair or lesser action being taken that might prevent situations from compounding.
The world is full of unknowns. Natural or even unnatural disasters require unnatural responses. Our natural response is to expect the systems that have provided us with safety to be there when we need it most. We've been blessed for a long time to take for granted the systems that have given us stability and dependability, but systems are changing and some systems are failing, creating more chaos, but at the same time providing more opportunities for new systems to replace or reinvent the old. People have to realize the power within their own hands as well as look for support systems closest to them or most easily reached.
People taking matters into their own hands can work against the relief efforts of local or larger government authorities. Communication is really important. Authorities are asking people to be patient, but authorities have to be patient and generous with people as well, realizing the dependency that's been created and seeing the new power people need to be given for their own good and the strength of their own autonomy. Governments need to communicate and work with people to empower them in better self-governing ways.
Lastly, and most painfully, sometimes we have to recognize that everyone's best still might not be good enough. Sometimes there's no way to avoid loss. Sometimes help isn't going to get there in time and it's only natural to want to find blame, but loss is something we all have to bear at different times in our lives and come to terms with. We are all fallible and all struggle to release what's not in our control during the most difficult times. Encouraging and finding solutions is better than blaming and complaining. Again, my heart and sympathies go out to all those hurting and suffering.
Continuing with Regenerative Education Centers...
If you have any means in your control to help and feel compelled to here are more ways you can.
Volunteers –
From the REC/LES team, “If you do not live on Maui, please do not come to Maui. Instead, please send supplies and/or cash donations: https://donorbox.org/maui-fire-relief-off-grid-shelter-setup”
If you live on the island and you want to volunteer for any of the following, please use this link to contact Living Earth Systems directly via Instagram and they will send you a google docs form to fill out. - Cooking, medical, driving in supplies, physical labor, cleanup, specialized skills (solar, carpentry, plumbing, electric...)
REC/LES Contact: https://www.instagram.com/livingearthsystems/
Google Docs Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtLSTPrLZWGaO8SZr0woXY1WA8DNJhlwhjH8WFL2Fmf-U7aw/viewform
Needs for RAC/LES:
Tents / Shade canopies
Totes
Portable toilets
Deep cycle batteries
& more
They also have an offer to help locate missing people out of the group they are in contact with, mainly from Lahaina:
Global Empowerment Mission, a FL non-profit is raising money and volunteering on the ground. They were halted for clearance to enter the Island, but by the time of this article, GEM's website reports they are now on the ground. These quotes from a couple of days earlier demonstrate the difficulties even response teams have had.
NBC Miami3 reported Aug 11th: “No one is allowed in but we will be in soon. Mainly because there are still bodies everywhere,” said Michael Capponi, the CEO of GEM.
A Maui resident, “Gabe”, was on his fishing boat near Lahaina trying to help save survivors. He said:
“There were dead bodies on the rocks and the first kids they brought out were 4-year-olds on surfboards," he said. "It was very sad."”4
GEM – Global Empowerment Mission is helping in the following ways:
Donate to GEM* here: https://www.globalempowermentmission.org/mission/maui-wildfires/
Charity Scam Warning: https://governor.hawaii.gov/newsroom/2023-35-attorney-general-lopez-cautions-those-seeking-to-donate-to-victims-of-the-maui-wildfires-to-avoid-scams/
A huge thank you goes out to all who are lending a helping hand during this great time of need, in Maui and everywhere else you are helping. We are not robots; we are humans with a great need for love, encouragement, help, support, teaching, learning and long-term care.
Anyone who recognizes this and gives selflessly to validate these needs in fellow human beings gets the highest place of respect in my book, but by helping those who are directly impacted, you never know just how much it may mean to them.
Many times these deeds go unseen and unrecognized and on some level, that's how it should be. True acts of goodness are done for the sake of goodness and not for self-glory, or reciprocity, but my aims for journalism are to give due recognition to those that I can, when I can, as I cherish the mantra: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Thank you,
for all you do,
Mahalo,
iam:Forever Blessed ...and I hope you are too
2https://www.kaainamomona.org/maui#:~:text=We%20encourage%20people%20to%20give%20directly%20to%20these%20families%20who%20have%20lost%20everything.
3https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/south-florida-nonprofit-sending-aid-to-help-victims-of-the-maui-wildfires/3090290/
4https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/south-florida-nonprofit-sending-aid-to-help-victims-of-the-maui-wildfires/3090290/
7https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/tampa-woman-hawaii-maui-wildfires-aumakua-fitness/67-45332052-5559-4b6b-ad69-410f288f8508#:~:text=Hafoka%2DBarreno%20is%20trying%20to%20help%20people%20in%20need%2C%20including%20her%20loved%20ones%2C%20by%20collecting%20supplies%20through%20her%20gym%20Aumakua%20Fitness%20in%20Temple%20Terrace.??
Business as Usual - Its Too Late / Business as Unusual - Its Too Early / Now what to do? - Try Being Nice, for a Change ...
1 年So nice, thank you Erika.... Maybe there is hope?