by Renee Riley
Renee Riley is a resident of Maui and a member of US Servas for more than two decades. She has a regular blog post, Where in the World Are Barry and Renee in which she recently posted information about the aftermath of the devastating fires that destroyed much of Lahaina (not too far from where Renee lives) and other parts of the island. The fires started on August 8th, and as of August 24th, some of the fires continued to burn. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for.
Immediately after the fires were first reported several US Servas board members reached out to Renee to make sure she and her large circle of friends and family were okay. Renee, who is most definitely a glass half full person, recently posted about some of the people on the island “caught doing good.” These include Kerri Winner and Dave Krick, owners of Hot Yoga in Kihei. “
Kerri - All of our yoga instructors are volunteering where they see a need. Amber helps to find long-term shelter for families. Samantha is working on boats that take food, water and fuel directly to the people in Lahaina. Rhema is also buying supplies through donations. The rest of our staff members are volunteering with the Red Cross at the shelters and donation locations. We are blessed to have such an amazing group of people working with us in our studio. Thank you for seeing us, Renée!” Kerri and Dave are also sponsoring regular free decompression, sound bath and meditation events.
Some of the staff of Hot Yoga in Kihei, Maui
Local theaters are sponsoring free movies for children and donating 20% of their receipts to the Maui Food Bank. Some people have opened their homes to relief workers.
While you may not be able to help in person, there are other ways you can help. Many organizations are looking for contributions – money can do the most good. Consider giving to the Hawaii State Teachers’ Association fire fund for teachers and classrooms directly affected by the fires. Or the Maui Strong Fund. For more opportunities to help Maui make it through and recover go to a list from the Honolulu Civil Beat.
