KALIHIWAI — Scraping mud lanais and tree branches from kitchen floors, providing food for relief workers and rubber boots for residents, cleaning loi: the flood recovery efforts in Kalihiwai, Hanalei and other impacted areas have been ongoing since mid-April.
Donations have been streaming in from businesses, organizations and individuals, and in early June, Ace Hardware in Princeville tossed $20,000 into the pot to help keep recovery going.
$10,000 went to Hale Halawai, which supports Hanalei, and $10,000 went to ‘Aina Ho’okupu o Kilauea, which serves Kilauea, Kalihiwai and other North Shore residents.
“When our local community in Kauai was hit in April by a rain bomb we know we had to take action,” said Mark Schulein of Island Ace Hardware. “Like New Orleans after Katrina, the eastern seaboard and Caribbean after Maria, Texas after Harvey, wild fires in California, and rain bombs in Kauai; these events bring communities together; and we’re part of this community.”
‘Aina Hookupu o Kilauea has been leading the recovery effort in the Kalihiwai valley and also lending a hand to support Hale Halawai to help neighboring communities.
“Now we are tasked to engage not only in recovery but also in remediation,” said Yoshito L’Hote of ‘Aina Ho’okupu o Kilauea.”How do we use this disaster as an opportunity to address fundamental problems that affect our communities? We will need a lot more resources to effectively create long-term change for the North Shore and Kauai.”
The money from Ace Hardware helps with those efforts and is a “very generous support in this time of need,” L’Hote said.
Schulein said being part of the community and helping out neighbors is very important to him as an individual and to the company. He pointed out that in a nationwide climate of radically increasing cost of living, rental housing shortage, and major traffic issues, flooding has added extra hardship for Kauai.
In the weeks following the April floods, Ace Hardware in Princeville offered to match all donations that were brought in, but Schulein said it wasn’t generating enough money.
“So, we donated $20,000 to community members in need,” he said. “We vetted all of the organizations helping out and chose two.”
It’s helpful for organizations like Hale Halawai and ‘Aina Ho’okupu o Kilauea, but L’Hote said it’s not just money that’s making relief efforts happen on Kauai — it’s also volunteers.
“Without those volunteers stepping up and taking charge with their ohana and support system we would never be where we are today,” L’Hote said. “Besides supporting our team of volunteers, we are providing for building materials, appliances, tool replacement, temporary jobs, financial support, bill payments, medical support, and lots of coordination of other NGO and volunteers.”
