When the five board members of the tiny Hauula-based Lahui Foundation went door to door after last week’s flooding, they sent teams out to see firsthand what flood victims suffered and learned what kind of |assistance they needed in this second week of cleanup.
“Some families or volunteers were helping to wash clothes for those affected by the flood,” foundation member Melissa Kaonohi-Camit said. “We’ve been out shoveling mud, coordinating and doing food distribution. It really didn’t dawn on us their appliances — washers and dryers — were damaged.”
So the group of four women and one man this week have been delivering 20 washers they purchased from Lowe’s at a discounted rate with some donated funds.
“We went to Hauula to two houses right in front of the stream and dropped off two washers yesterday,” Kaonohi-Camit said Thursday. “They showed us where the river went. … It took out an entire child’s room. Everything got pushed out of the house. The child lost everything. No bed, no toys. That’s how strong the current was. Imagine if they were in the house.”
Hard-hit Oahu neighborhoods like Haleiwa and Hauula are still in need of help, and Lahui is continuing to coordinate volunteer groups this weekend to shovel mud and debris and to continue clearing and cleaning, although the rain continues to fall.
Kaonohi-Camit shared one example of the importance of getting out to the community. Lahui’s treasurer had been passing out flyers for flood relief when she came upon a home in Hauula and could hear somebody calling out, “Help, help.”
A female senior in the home was calling for aid. Two days earlier she had stepped out of her car, fell and made her way into the living room, but no one knew. She couldn’t leave because the car was mired in deep mud in the driveway. The group helped shovel mud to clear the driveway.
“When I saw that, my heart just sank, thinking about how many kupuna could be in that situation,” Kaonohi-Camit said.
Lahui has seen a huge outpouring of donations. The foundation is no longer accepting miscellaneous items and clothing because it already has too many.
“The most amazing thing we saw coming out of this very devastating situation is how much the community stepped up,” said Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi, who represents both Haleiwa and Hauula.
She said she is grateful for Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s assistance with support from the Department of Environmental Services to keep transfer stations open and assist with bulky item pickups, the Department of Planning and Permitting to help owners to assess damage, and with the permitting process to repair damage to houses and commercial buildings.
Lahui and other grassroots organizations such as the Hauula Community Association, as well as the military, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Salvation Army and other organizations are not the only ones.
“The amazing thing was the ones that we were trying to help want to help us,” Kaonohi-Camit said. “They malama each other. They feel that somebody might be worse off than them. Only in Hawaii. We still will give of ourselves.”
On March 9, Haleiwa resident Nate Sisler saw water in his house rise to 2 feet in less than an hour.
He had 30 minutes to save the family dog, important documents, some photos and a dirt bike but lost beds, couches, toys and a lot more.
“The first people to show up were from the North Shore Veterinary Clinic,” Sisler said, adding they brought pet food. “They helped me sort through the most intimate parts of our life, pictures, and baby outfits. … It almost brings tears to my eyes to talk about it.”
Volunteer active-duty members from the Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy arrived to help Sisler, who is in the Air Force. “I saw my house come back together.”
He then sent them to other houses and has been helping coordinate assistance from the military, working with a military coordinator.
“When you see your community in distress, when you have the resources to help, you have to take action,” Sisler said. “You have to be there for them.”
“I gave some of the Marines my truck, and we did dump runs for days,” he said.
“There wasn’t the volunteer force to help with cleanup,” Sisler said. “It was totally on the community.”
Sisler said, “Hauula was hit harder than us, and there was hardly anybody. The Lahui Foundation was really it.”
He said nonprofits and community organizations have had “to pick up the slack where the government is deficient.”
The Salvation Army held initial outreach events Monday in Haleiwa and Hauula to provide financial assistance to those with damage to their homes, temporary housing assistance for those displaced by flooding, food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care. It said additional outreach is planned for the future.
PepsiCo has donated over 10,000 bottles of water, 400 cases of food and beverages to help the more than 3,000 residents affected by the storm.
Anyone interested in volunteering should contact the Lahui Foundation on Facebook or at lahuifoundation.org.
