My home had 6 different fires last night impacting thousands of people. If you can donate anything or at least share this, please do.

Support Maui, Hawai'i Residents During the Lahaina Wildfire Crisis

A series of wildfires exacerbated by hurricane winds and climate change has destroyed homes, historical sites, and natural flora in Lahaina, Maui. Thousands have been displaced, and lives have been lost.

WWC's mod Ren has put together a page outlining resources for residents displaced and affected by the wildfires, and for those who wish to support them during this crisis.

Please share this resource and consider donating, especially if you are not local to Hawai'i and have visited or are considering visiting the islands.

Find a list of orgs to donate to HERE

Our hearts are with Maui residents during this tremendous loss.

-Writing With Color

Maui Fires & How to Support Relief Efforts

(Posted on 8/10/23) Hi, I'm Jae and my family is from Lāhainā. I watched my hometown burn down this week. The fires caused immeasurable loss in my community so I'd like to spread awareness of the situation as well as provide links to support local organizations directly assisting survivors. I'm pretty sure most of my following is Not local so I'm writing with intent to inform people outside the situation, but if you're reading this and happen to have family in the affected area that isn't accounted for, message me and I can send you the links to the missing persons tracking docs + more localized info!! If you'd like to skip down to how to help and follow community organizations, scroll to the bottom of the post after the image.

Earlier this week, Hurricane Dora passed south of the Hawaiian Islands, bringing strong wind gusts that caused property damage across the islands. On Tuesday August 8, high winds caused sparks to fly in the middle of Lāhainā town, knocking out power lines and immediately igniting drought-ridden grasses. The fire spread quickly and destroyed the entire center of town, the harbor, and multiple neighborhoods including Hawaiian Homes (housing specifically for Native Hawaiians), parts of Lahainaluna, basically all of Front Street, and low-income housing units. There is only one public road in and out of town, and after a very hectic evacuation period that road has been mostly closed off except to emergency responders, thus it is extremely difficult for anyone to leave town to get help. The nearest hospital is 20 miles away in Wailuku, and most grocery stores in town have burnt down.

As of Thursday, August 10, over 1,000 acres have been burned and 271 structures (including homes, schools, and other community gathering places) have been destroyed. Cell service is still extremely spotty, many of the surrounding neighborhoods deemed safe for evacuees are still without utilities. There are currently confirmed 53 deaths but that number is expected to increase as search-and-rescue efforts continue. Countless families have been displaced and many have lost the homes they lived in for generations. Places of deep historical significance have been reduced to ash, including the gravesites of Hawaiian royalty, the old Lāhainā courthouse where items of cultural significance were stored, and Na ‘Aikane o Maui Cultural Center. To add further context: Lāhainā has a population of about 13,000 residents. EVERYONE I know has been impacted in some way--at best forced to evacuate, at worst their house was burnt to the foundation, they cannot find a loved one, etc. I'm still trying to track down family members and it's been over two days. My neighbors down the street had homes last week and now many don't have ANYTHING. The hotels are taking in residents (tourists are also being STRONGLY urged to leave so that locals can recover). Without open access to the rest of the island, Lāhainā residents are now dependent on whatever people had in their homes already as well as disaster relief efforts coming in, but it's been difficult to organize and mobilize due to the location + conditions. People who have made it out are in shelters where no blankets or medicine were provided. Friends and acquaintances from neighbor islands are preparing aid to send over. Community response has been incredible, but the toll on the town has been immeasurable. My parents were desperately walking through town yesterday, my mom sounded absolutely hollow talking about it on the phone with me. It's horrifying. Below is a satellite map with data from the NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System showing the impacted areas from the past week; all of the red blotches were on fire at some point in the last three days.

Here are ways you can help:

If you have the means to donate:

Here are three donation sites verified by Maui Rapid Response, which also lists FAQs for people who are wondering about next steps.

Hawaiʻi Community Foundation - Maui Strong Fund accepts international credit cards. Maui United Way

Maui Mutual Aid Non-monetary ways to support:

If you know anyone who is planning to travel to ANY Hawaiian island, not just Maui, tell them to cancel their trip. Resources are extremely limited as is. Advocate for climate change mitigation efforts locally, wherever that is for you. The fire was exacerbated by drought conditions that have worsened due to climate change.

Lastly, remember that these are people's HOMES that burned, and Native Hawaiian cultural artifacts that have been lost. Stop thinking of Hawaiʻi (or any "tourist destination" location, really) as an "escape" or a "paradise." If that's the only way you recognized my home... I'm glad I got your attention somehow, but I would ask that you challenge that perspective and prioritize local and native voices. For transparency, I don't currently live in Lāhainā, I've been following efforts from Honolulu. My parents and brother have been updating me and I've been following friends and family who are doing immediate response work. I'm doing my best to find reliable and current sources, but if I need to update something, please let me know. If you're going to try to convince me that tourism is necessary for our recovery, news flash ***IT'S NOT***!

Thanks for reading.

Maui is on fire

Direct links to the resources/charities listed in the screenshotted tweet:

Spreadsheet of resources (including donation drop off locations & shelters put together by Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action)

Maui Disaster Response and Recovery Form

Maui Fires People Locator

Donate to the Maui Food Bank

Donate to the Maui Mutual Aid Fund

Donate to the Maui Strong Fund

Donate to Emergency Fundraiser For Maui Fires (donations go to the Maui Strong Fund but is hosted on Actblue)

Donate to the Kākoʻo Maui Match Campaign (they've already met their match goal of $250,000 but I'm still including it for the sake of more options)

Carrd by Twitter user @renmaicha (LISTS MULTIPLE FUNDS + INDIVIDUAL FOLKS THAT NEED SUPPORT)

i wish i could help more but since i have a bit of a reach from posting about polynesian issues especially after the past month, i'll try this. any kānaka maoli are welcome to reblog this post and start a reblog chain with their paypal/cashapp etc. or the info of anyone they know needs help after the fires and i'll boost it as much as i can. if you can't donate i'd ask people to reblog to spread the word around and get a bigger reach.

kia māia, kia kaha me kia haumaru, tōku hawai'i whānau. waimarie ki a koutou me kia ora tō whānau. te kotahitanga i waenganui i nga tangata moana.

Donation commission slots to support Maui during fire aftermath!!!

Hi! I’m opening another few donation commission slots for donations to organizations helping with the aftermath of Maui wildfires- a list of some can be found here

I’ll have one slot open for a fully finished/colored watercolor or digital piece- usually around $30-50

And im also opening 5 lower priced slots for sketches- anywhere from $10-25 so you can get something and help even if you can’t afford something more expensive. I can do Good Omens, Sandman, Discworld, Star Trek (tos), OCs and other stuff

The wildfires in Maui, Hawaii have displaced hundreds of families. Lahaina town is ash, and 80% of structures lost were multifamily housing. Though it's getting less attention, families in Upcountry on the slopes of Haleakala have lost everything too.

Today (8/12/23) the fires are under better control, but all 3 are still active & the county has released water advisories for several neighborhoods. I am watching the helicopters dumping water on the fire nearest me.

We will be years rebuilding. Here are some reputable links for community organizations that are helping if you would like to donate:

Fund for my coworkers who have lost everything:

https://secure.pacificwhale.org/forms/pwfohanarelief

Fund for the Maui Community:

https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong

Maui Food Bank:

https://mauifoodbank.org/

i don't usually get political on here bc i like to keep it happy and positive but I need to share this for everyone to recognize in all my platforms.

PLEASE, donate to Lahaina, Maui. After these devastating fires we NEED to give them all the help they can get.

DONOT DONATE TO RED CROSS, FEMA, UNITED WAY, AND/OR WAR MEMORIAL. THEY WILL NOT GET RESOURCES TO LAHAINA. THEY HAVE A HISTORY OF WITHHOLDING RESOURCES FROM CRISIS VICTIMS. PLEASE DONATE TO LOCAL FOUNDATIONS THAT ARE ON THE GROUND HELPING MAUI RESIDENTS.

We have to look out for our fellow humans. We need to help were we can. I'm going to list some links you can donate to AND/OR SEND TO PPL.

hey buds if you have a few extra dollars my cousins' family in Hawaii is one of the ones really affected by the fires... no big at all if you can't, I totally get it!! 💕

Links for Maui fires help!!

If you have anything you can afford to donate, here are some good links:

Hawaii Red Cross

Maui United Way

Maui Humane Society

any reputable business/charity helping out.

I know the US president declared emergency so federal help is coming, but I think a particularly easy way to help rigfht now if you have small means, is to pick something off of the Humane Society's amazon wishlist.

Or, as in my case, I donated to the Maui Mutual Aid Fund. It has no minimum and you can opt to cover the donation fees.

Sharing these two resources because trucks are actually on the ground (seen here) helping right now in Maui:

Update btw the fires are still going but apparently the weather conditions are much more favourable now and firefighters had a successful night last night. My family didn't have to evacuate and we're still being alert but hopeful <3

What happened in Maui is absolutely horrifying, like I’m in tears.. I can’t imagine at all what people are going through.

If you have the means to donate, please do. Especially if you’ve ever visited, moved there when you’re not actually indigenous Hawaiian, and/or are white. Especially since we’ve all been asked to stop vacationing there numerous times, and so many of us still did despite being begged not to.

This is what colonialism does. The tourism industry in Hawaii is modern day colonialism, and everyone vacationing there or has done so in the past directly participated in it. Look at the fires, look at what happened, and at the very least, promise to never go to Hawaii ever again.

Here’s some resources where you can donate. If you’re a native Hawaiian or local, and you have been directly affected by the fires, you’re more than welcome to reblog with your gofundme, PayPal, etc. Or if you know anyone who is, reblog with somewhere they’d like people to donate.

Please boost, feel free to add more information in reblogs, including other places people can donate.