A Knock on Our Door – founding the Maui Organizers Mālama Fund
Guest post by Andrea Hernandez Rodriguez, PhD
Dr. Hernandez Rodriguez is a mom, partner, and lover of humanity with over two decades of practice in nonprofit and foundation management, organizing, capacity building, and systems change. A nationally recognized leader in family and youth philanthropy, she supports leaders (ages 8+) through times of significant change and helps them grow and share power across generations creating legacies of giving and healing. She is a founder of the Maui Organizers Mālama Fund, fiscally sponsored by PVF; a member of the Maui Medic Healers Hui; and a Facilitator for Wisdom Circles Oceania.
The Maui Organizers Mālama Fund (MOMF) resources local Maui community organizers leading disaster recovery and healing, centering native Hawai’ian leadership. The Fund resources these vital community leader’s time and care as the trusted navigators for this land and its healing.
The night of August 8th, 2023, my family was playing in the backyard preparing for dinner at our home in Kahului on the Island of Maui, Hawai’i. We got an unexpected knock on the door and our lives changed forever. “Lāhainā Town is gone. It’s burned and people are dead,” said the unfamiliar person, reeking of smoke, and looking like they had survived the apocalypse. “We have been stuck on the road trying to escape, our phones are dead, and we went to the first house we knew.” The glow of flames over Mauna Kahālāwai and upcountry Haleakala could be seen from our backyard, as powerful trade winds howled; Lāhainā only miles away just on the other side of the majestic West Maui mountains.
Because of the visit we received from folks seeking shelter from the fire, we understood very quickly the severity of the situation and had a peek into the complexity of challenges and needs that have unfolded over the past 18 months. Complexities and challenges we should all be paying attention to—as a warning for disaster preparedness and for what works in disaster recovery and healing.
As we now know, the wildfires on Maui in August 2023 fires killed at least 102 people, left the historic Town of Lāhainā in ashes, and its people and others who lost homes across the Island with uncertain futures. While the damage is unmeasurable to the lineal descendants to this land, and the role that water rights played in the destruction is clear, it is estimated that the damage is between $5.5-6B. 7 to 10 years for recovery is what I hear again and again although it seems wrong knowing the generational impacts of trauma. Two days after the fires erupted, the situation was declared a federal major disaster with funds promised to aid in the response, recovery and stabilization, and long-term preparedness and resiliency efforts.
Since that fateful knock on our door, I have spent the last 18 months activated in fire response and recovery efforts. Witnessing these exceptional organizers and their aloha has been an honor of my life. These organizers are like many I have worked with in the past–modest, caring, frugal, creative, smart, using whatever resources they have to help others. These are the people providing baseline care, providing a trampoline of support, and filling the gaps. These are the people you call when you need help and they actually help you. These are the people that are trusted in the community.
Through the Maui Organizers Mālama Fund, we helped secure and get needed funds to local organizers involved in wildlife recovery efforts early on and, over the last year, have been a part of convening local organizers in support of their own capacity building, restoration, and healing needs.
Andrea with community members and volunteers from the Maui Medic Healers Hui at the Honokōwai Beach Resource Hub and Pu’uhonua.
Community members and volunteers from the Maui Medic Healers Hui and Pacific Birth Collective with visiting members from the Indigenous Environmental Network at the Honokōwai Beach Resource Hub and Pu’uhonua.
We know things are hard and only going to get harder as the federal funding continues to go away on Maui, while the needs rise. 53% of Maui County residents are already living at or below poverty lines after the wildfires. We know Maui is not alone, with many experiencing the tidal waves of recent federal cuts. It feels even more important today, to pay attention to what’s happening in places like Maui as a warning for your own community and what is required to be resilient for future disasters.
Here are some of the exceptional organizations leading vital wildfire recovery and healing work on the Island of Maui that were impacted by federal cuts. I would invite you to learn more about each of them and support their efforts.
Maui Grassroots Collective is a newly launched coalition of local nonprofits on the Island of Maui have come together to uplift Maui’s people and ecosystems through community-centered care and traditional ahupuaʻa values. Founded by the organizations below, Maui Grassroots Collective aims to create a lasting framework for mutual aid, resource-sharing, and community resilience:
- Maui Rapid Response meets the needs of those falling in the cracks from the systems set up to support survivors and those impacted in the community. They run the Maui Mutual Aid Fund. https://www.mauirapidresponse.org/
- Maui Medic Healers Hui cultivates healing and healers. They are a Kanaka Maoli led team providing grassroots, community services. https://www.mauimedichealershui.org/
- Holomua Outreach supports and lifts up our homeless people within the Hamakua Ahupua’a of Maui Nui A Kama– specifically focused on Holomua Road leading up to Old Maui High. https://holomuaoutreachhui.org/malama
- Maui Housing Hui advocates for renter rights and affordable housing on Maui. https://mauihousinghui.com/
The Lahaina Community Land Trust is keeping Lahaina land in Lahaina’s hands. https://www.lahainacommunitylandtrust.com
Roots Reborn is a multicultural immigrant justice and disaster response organization dedicated to supporting migrant and immigrant communities on Maui. https://rootsreborn.org/
Pacific Birth Collective expands critical birth and wellness choices through education, support and advocacy for families and practitioners across Hawai’i. https://pacificbirthcollective.org/ourteam
Lāhainā Rising from the Ashes Documentary offers a locally produced view of the August 8th wildfires and what has happened since. https://www.lahainafilm.com/team
You never know when your community will come knocking on your front door.
