In addition to checks, Mainland people, including many Kaua’i visitors and more than a few people who plan to make the island their permanent or retirement home after they retire, have sent cards and letters of condolences to family members
In addition to checks, Mainland people, including many Kaua’i visitors and more than a few people who plan to make the island their permanent or retirement home after they retire, have sent cards and letters of condolences to family members of victims of the March 14 flood, according to a Hawai’i Community Foundation spokes-person.
And, fueled by three separate, $5,000 contributions, the Kaua’i Island Fund balance has swelled to nearly $38,000, said Deborah Rice, foundation officer in the HCF Lihu’e office.
While the original intent of the Kaua’i Island Fund was to help family members of the victims of the Kilauea disaster, their short-term needs (shelter, food, funeral expenses, etc.) have been met and, since people all over the island have suffered losses as a result of widespread flooding, the fund administrators have widened their focus to longer-term needs, she said.
If there are individuals who need help that has not been provided by other sources, fund administrators will look at those people as potential recipients of funds, she said.
“We want to be another, additional resource.”
An advisory group of Kauaians, including some of the Kaua’i members of the HCF Leadership Council, will review needs periodically, and make grants as deemed necessary, she explained.
Two more gifts of $5,000 each came into the fund Thursday, and Rice said she is eager to begin making distributions from the fund to needy members of the community.
Identifying needs will be the next major task for volunteer committee members deciding on who gets funds, and how much, she added.
“There’s been just a real outpouring of support for Kaua’i, and I hope that our community sees how much that we are loved throughout the world,” Rice said of the off-island and out-of-state donations and letters and cards of concern.
The HCF office is at 4370 Kukui Grove St., Suite 207, in the Executive Center that also houses Kauai Athletic Club in Lihu’e. The phone number is 245-4585.
Every penny donated to the Kaua’i Island Fund will be used to help Kauaians, she concluded.
