UPDATE: 1/23/2023
Aloha! It’s been more than 5 months, and thanks to your generous contributions, 48 children are now receiving monthly distributions. Starting from December, all donations are tax-deductible, as we’ve partnered with PFEE (People for Educational Equality), a local non-profit organization. With your support, we’ve raised $25,000 and distributed $15,000. To continue our efforts throughout the school year, we need your help. We’ve had to pause new applications and aim to raise $12,000 to cover the remainder of the school year. Our ultimate goal is to raise an additional $30,000, which would allow us to reopen applications and extend assistance to more children or into the summer. Please consider contributing to make a positive impact on these kids’ lives.
On August 8, 2023, LahainaTown on our beautiful island of Maui was burned to the ground. Thousands of people lost their homes and at least 100 people lost their lives. We decided that we would help as many of the keiki (children) to get through the trauma of losing homes, schools, family and friends. The children are the future of our island and we want to keep them here. The program was established to distribute funds every month to 100+ children and their families, through the end of the 2023-2024 school year. We want to provide peace of mind that they will not be forgotten so that they may focus on their physical and emotional recovery and what they do best- just being kids! We are working with schools, counselors and people we know to identify those children and families most in need and then verify each family in person.
We had a GoFundMe where we quickly set up and raised over $20,000. Weʻve currently identified 30 children and have started making monthly distributions. While we know we could get many more, we need more funds to support more children. We have kids whose ages range from 1 to 21. Over 84% of the children have lost their home; 19% have lost an immediate family member or close friend. Many of the children are from generational families who have lost everything – their jobs, homes and cars.
We want to support many more children and were grateful that we could align with a Lahaina-based non-profit organization: PFEE – People for Educational Equality to get additional donations.
As always, we’ll maintain open and transparent communication with our valued supporters. We have established a dedicated Facebook Group where we can share updates, stories of impact, and the outcomes of our collective efforts.
The Maui Keiki Fire Relief Fund is organized and supported by Aloha Group Maui a real estate team serving Maui.
Aloha Group Team Members include: ʻLahaina Leeʻ and Barbara Potts, Cheri Miller, Keri Nicholson, Myra Plant, Anthony Freda, Suni Novotny, Courtney Stice, Kathy Becklin, Heather Zidell, Magdalena Odonnell, Sarah Twitchell, Stephanie Kirkham and Tony Brown. We are a real estate team of Keller Williams Realty Maui. Our office was destroyed in the fire. We are grateful daily that we all survived the fires though some lost their homes.
The Lahaina Strong logo was created by Mike Reich, a local Maui artist.