Maui Strong - The Lahaina Long Game

48 hours.

We were in one of our favorite spots over the past 20 years…Lahaina. We had just completed a ‘Lahaina Crawl’…dinner in one place, drinks in another, and dessert at yet another.

48 hours later…it was gone.

1,000’s of lives impacted, 100’s still missing, and a death toll that is still climbing. All in just a couple hours on Aug. 8th. Homes…businesses…livelihoods…cars…possessions…gone.

I had a planned change to Oahu to work with clients, but my daughter and her husband stayed behind to celebrate their anniversary week in the Lahaina area. With power and cell service down, our ability to communicate with them was…gone.

As the fire raged on, the hotels in the area had no information and were telling guests that the power would be back on in the morning. Only a random, scratchy phone call that got through to our daughter the next morning gave us the ability to communicate the scale of the threat and encourage them to leave. As they checked out, the front desk still had no idea of the impending tragedy. In their car, they first tried to leave through Lahaina, but were turned around, so they took the dangerous, one lane road around the north end of the Island and were one of the last cars to make it through before that road was also closed. They finally made it to the airport and evacuated to Oahu.

The days since have been indescribable. The pictures are crushing. The loss is overwhelming. The need is almost insurmountable. But there are ways to respond…

Maui Strong -?The Lahaina Long Game

As my daughter and son-in-law were in the air on the way to Oahu, I was meeting with various CEOs of some of the most notable companies in Hawaii. Obviously, the conversations were minimally about business and mainly about Maui, including their families, employees, customers, and the residents of Lahaina and Upcountry.

One bank CEO described what I call the Lahaina Long Game…Maui Strong Fund.

There are numerous organizations and entities that you can donate to right now and they are great. Regardless of where you decide, please seriously consider donating?now?to this massive and tragic need. This CEO, however, described that many of these entities are designed for immediate triage, which is critical, but Maui’s need will also extend for many, many years to come. Overseen by the Hawaii Community Foundation and its Board, the Maui Strong Fund will be applied with local, long-term awareness and needs in mind. These needs will change over the years, long after Lahaina has faded from the headlines, and it is paramount that there is continued, local support. For more information on Maui Strong and to donate now, please click here:?https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong

A friend asked me yesterday to describe my feelings and experiences over the past week and I could not. My words were…gone. Yet, I and my family are the incredibly lucky ones to have escaped such tragic loss of lives, homes, and businesses.

Hawaii is like a second home for me with my work taking me there almost monthly. The terrain and weather are what attract tourists, but it is the people who make it special. Loving, genuine, creative, passionate, caring, smart, and beautiful are just a few words that come to mind. But most of all, they are Strong.

They will face this tragedy head on and persist until they are as recovered as possible. You can help them right now in their long game to stay strong…Maui Strong.

Mahalo nui,

Neil

More…

I am blessed to work with numerous amazing companies in Hawaii, many of which will be sharing additional opportunities to support the residents of Maui. I will pass them along as I receive them. Below are links provided by a group of great people, doing great work, Elemental Excelerator and their CEO Dawn Lippert:

How to help now

People have different gifts to offer, and I hope you can find a way to give that feels authentic to you. This may be monetary or may include other ways to show care and support.?

• At Elemental we have partnered with the Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement?Kāko?o Maui Fund?(Support Maui), which has matched every donation up to $1.5M.?

There are many community-based organizations who are doing hero’s work in getting help to those who need it, and there are ways to give directly to families.?

• Hawai?i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund
• Kanu Hawaii Maui Rapid Response
• Vetted list of GoFundMe pages for individual families

…Please feel free to share this message with anyone whom you believe might be interested in helping.?Thx, Neil