On Tuesday night August 8, 2023 my brother texted our family group text from west Maui where he lives with his wife – it was 10:23 pm in California. He wanted us to know they were safe in case we had heard about the fire in Lahaina. This was the first hint we had that there was something wrong on the island. We spent the night waiting by our phones for updates and searching the internet for any news – we were fortunate to hear from them.
On Wednesday morning the scope of the devastation would only begin to become clear. The people of Lahaina were waking up to a world that had changed in the blink of an eye. Lives lost, houses destroyed, a town so ravaged as to be almost unrecognizable – the devastation was and is incomprehensible. Maui needs our help.
To jump start our support I am using my annual participation in the Manhattan Beach Hometown 10k for more than just exercise (and the possibility that I might finally beat Todd). Most of you know how close Maui is to my heart and after the recent wildfire event, I can’t sit by and do nothing. More details below, as we’re raising money to help local West Maui families … including a link here should you wish to contribute – any amount helps. Thank you for your support.
Maui holds a special place in my, and my family’s heart. My family has been visiting Maui for over 50 years, my parents first visited Maui on their honeymoon, immediately fell in love with the island, and continued to visit almost every year their life together, at one point owning property on the west side. We would pack up and decamp to Maui in the summer reconnecting with our friends and adopted family who called Maui home year round, and catching up with friends who visited Maui year after year. Maui is home for me, not the home where I live, but my heart and soul home – my north star. West Maui is the place I dream of at night, and that I picture when someone says “think of your happy place”. After my father got sick at the end of 2019 he was determined to get back to the island – unfortunately Covid had other plans – ultimately, the year after he passed, we brought him back to the island and the bay he loved so much, with Tetley, our family dog, joining him the next year. I tell you all this to help you understand why our family has such a deep connection to Maui. The island has given so much to all of us that we need to give back…and we’re asking for your help.
Just after their wedding, my brother and sister-in-law moved to Maui, to the west side, to start their life together. With them on the ground we have identified the first group of families to gift funds to – families who do not have a support system, who do not have their own GoFundMe
We are gifting money now, in the immediate, but also in the future when the cameras have left the island and the rebuilding is still a ways away. The recovery has been likened to a marathon not a sprint and, for some, the hardest mile is the middle – around mile 13 – when the crowds are thin and you just can’t see the finish line. The funds we raise are to help give a boost to families impacted by the fires and help them through this marathon. This money is for the little things that we take for granted but that help get us through the day to day: a dinner out, a holiday gift, books, new pots and pans, art supplies, the small items that make life feel normal.
Today friends and acquaintances on the island are trying to make sense of their world now and in the future. An entire town and countless souls have been lost. Lahaina Town was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1802-1845, is a spiritual place and home to the US’ oldest Banyan tree.
It was also full of family stories; births, deaths, marriages and family histories. So much more has been lost than just the physical.
My brother and his wife are back on Maui supporting their adopted community. Together we will make sure the funds go to the families who need help, who don’t have anyone to cheer them on at the midpoint – this is a chance for you to directly make an impact and help families begin to rebuild.
This is a marathon not a sprint – we are only getting started. If you know people on Maui, if you have visited Maui or if Maui is on your list to visit please donate. No amount is too small.
Please help Maui
Mahalo Nui Loa
Maui Mile 13 