Emergency lava Evacuation fund

Quick update for GofundMe to allow us to access our funds
Who you are and where you’re from:

We are a family that lives on Oneloa street in Leilani in Pahoa Hawaii. 1 mile away from fissure 8, the active fissure of the kiluea volcano.

Your relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for:

We are the parties we are raising funds for

How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible)

The funds will be spent to help us with costs and recovery fees. Some will be life expenses, possibly plane tickets if needed. We are still in an active zone of constant change and are not sure what is going on. The funds, to put bluntly, are emeregency funds.

Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary/ies:

We will withdraw them as/when necessary


Update:
Crown's experience of the lava eruption
Hey everyone! This is Crown, Shivani's husband, and I was just wanting to hop on here and share my perspective on all of the happenings. Things have certainly been intense, stressful, exciting, a bit scary, sad, anger inducing, and more. Every day has felt like a new emotion that needs processed.

For me this whole thing began a day before the earthquakes even started. I was having a very difficult day at work that involved a rather weird and intense confrontation with one individual I thought was my friend. He acted extremely hostile towards me and was very in my space, refusing to back off and give me room. It was really weird and I think ultimately he was just upset because the woman he was wanting to flirt with (whom was someone I've known for years) spent more time talking to me than him. Well what was important to me in this confrontation was not so much why, but the idea of him complaining about me being in a space and that I should move. The first sign of being disheveled and relocated. I was also told kind of ominously by someone that "we all need a break from electricity, especially Crown, who stays up until ungodly hours of the night.." Little did I know how foretelling these experiences were. That night, I was talking to God and I asked why I've been being so harshly tested lately with so many difficult experiences. I was told, very bluntly, that "I was being prepared for what I was about to go through" The next day the earthquakes started.

I've always found myself to be a little more sensitive to many and most things. Substances effect me more easily, and in general, I tend to feel just about everything. Right on down to emotions and thoughts, though I believe we all do this to some extent, for me it seems to just be a little bit louder. Well, as the Earthquakes were going on, this was certainly still true. I could feel the lava moving beneath our home so intensely it is hard to put into words. So many emotions and so much feeling. My whole body was buzzing with intensity and the emotions were incredible to say the least. The first few nights, there was a great deal of fear. I do not believe it was mine, but it was there for me to process. So much fear. The way it showed up for me in my life, is that all of a sudden I started thinking about everything in my life I have ever been afraid of. Many of these fears I had already gotten over, but they all came flooding back again. And one by one, I had to reprocess them. I had to hold my ground in calmness as fear bombarded me, and I was really proud of myself for getting through it. It was around this time I had a discussion with God. One could call this energy Pele if they wished, from the Hawaiians perspective. She told me that she would not take our house, and that we were OK. She also said she was going to stick around for a while. It was a clear message, and full of love, so I believed it. Whenever in the past I get a clear message, it turns out to be true... So I believed it.. and still do.

The first fissure with lava appeared after about 3 days after the earthquakes started. I was at work at the time and rushed home immediately to check on the family. We were not sure what we were going to do and there was a lot of panic. I was still very confident our house would be OK, but we were not sure whether or not we should evacuate. As we were discussing this (all around 5 pm on Thursday May 3rd) we received a message on my phone telling us to evacuate... It made our decision for us. We hurriedly packed our things very roughly and got in our car, thinking we would be able to come back to get more if we needed. We went and stayed with our friend David for the night, just to find stillness for a second while we figured out where we were going to go. Sadly though, I would not find any stillness for some time from this point (about a month).

The next day we moved to our friends at Asante farms on Papaya farms road. We left many things behind, including our cats, but we assumed we would be able to go back to get them. But when we tried to go back to get our cats, they had blocked the road, and they would not let us in. The first couple days were full of panic and excitement. My wife was always very concerned about us losing our home (understandably), however because of what God told me I was confident our home would be OK, and I kept trying to reassure her. Trying to maintain confidence and overcome all of the energies of fear and worry was very trying for me. It was coming from everyone all the time, all of the town, the people I was living with, just everywhere. The energies of worry and stress were harder to deal with than the lava itself, at least for me. This lead to many confrontations over the month and never really knowing what we were doing, or what was really even happening.

The lava continued coming out in huge eruptions and explosions. At this point in time the magma being pushed out was old magma from 50 to 1000 years ago that had been resting deep beneath the surface. The lava lake was dropping in the crater and volcano, and the new magma was pushing the old magma to the surface. It was very explosive and new fissures were opening up every day. Shivani was constantly afraid for our home, and I was just trying to maintain confidence and faith in what I was told. The girls school was cancelled for the time being and I was still going to work, trying to maintain sanity through a very stressful time. Town was in panic and the explosions could be heard for miles. There were some lava flows, but not many, nor very fluid... The major of danger and fear at this point was from the fissures, the earthquakes, the dropping lava lake. People feared many things, doomsday speak was abundant and energies and stresses were high.

Things continued like this for sometime and Geothermal came up to question. It was not a huge concern at this point, but it was a concern. Many people believed that Geothermals drilling is the cause for the activity moving to this region (I am included in that belief) and were also quite fearful of the poisonous gasses exploding.

As time continued, the newer lava made its way to the surface and shot out in spectacular fountains of orange glow. Some houses had been lost so far, but this is where the real devastation would begin. Fissure production stalled greatly as lava just shot out in fountains of hundreds of feet into the air. Constant and consistently creating RIVERS of lava. These rivers flowed, mowing down forests, lawns, cars, and homes in their wake. As nature is, they were both beautiful and destructive. Awe-inspiring in their inability to be stopped and breathtakingly beautiful. The gases have always been a concern but they became only more-so as things continued.

I should mention that we were eventually allowed back into our home to get more things and our cats, though I was not able to find my kitty at first. She was essentially on her own for 3 weeks. She was the thing I was most upset about being left behind, but we did eventually find her. It made my heart so happy when I was finally able to get her.

It was as the lava was really flowing and picking up speed that the fears of geothermals gas explosions really became a town concern. Geothermal moved 60,000 gallons of the highly explosive pentane gas... to another spot in the same area....still directly in the path of the oncoming lava flow. Still very much in the way of danger, and not to the contentment of the town, who felt lied to and betrayed. It actually took the lava being within 300 yards and a governors demand for them to move the pentane gas out of the area. That was a relief but only of some of the danger. They still had 11 wells open, all of which could explode or start leaking poisonous hydrogen sulfide into the air, and killing everyone within 1.5 mile and hurting many others to a much larger radius... if not properly taken care of. It took a good week or two for them to cap and take care of all the wells, but their way of dealing with the wells was very experimental, and although in theory they would not explode, and thus killing people, this was never tested, as no one has ever built a geothermal power plant on top of an active volcano before. The people in the area were of course, and very understandably, terribly upset about this. Even to this day, the wells still remain a concern. But the lava has covered most of the wells (if not all of them) now and they have remained sealed... SO that is good. It's amazing how often poisonous gasses have come up during this whole experience.

I also want to take a moment just to give my thanks and appreciation to all of the volunteers and donations that have been coming in. From all of you, and from everyone in the town that has come together to feed and take care of so many. To provide necessities and help to those in need. Aide and love, stress relief and assistance to everyone. More than anything, it warmed my heart which was much needed.

The lava brought everything in my life into question. I always said I loved my life. My job, my family, my home, my community. I loved everything in it. Everything came under test. My family feuded, my house was threatened, my job came to question, and my community's homes are being burned down and people were fleeing the area. But my wife and I made it through, my home is surviving (so far), my community is banding together to help each other, and my boss and I are still friends.. Unfortunately I could not remain at my place of employment because of differences in ways of doing things, beliefs, and overall personality between me and another upper management employee (vibrational discrepancies as I like to say). He, I feel, sees the business as a hustle, mainly a way to make money. Sees employees more as tools than people, and is generally rude in his ways of communication. He likes to talk down to me and really everyone and think himself the top "dog". I always worked there more for the belief in what we were doing and providing than for the money. I like to treat everyone like a person and friend, rather than a tool, and I try to treat everyone we associate with with appreciation. I felt that too much of my time and energies, while working in that company, were going just to counter his. And this just could not be sustained long term. SO it became clear that I had to leave. The lava brought all of these realizations to the surface for me. It brought business way down and he and I were brought into interaction far more because of it. It is through these experiences that everything else came to light for me.

The lava continued flowing and the girls finished off there school year. We were still displaced and disheveled, with no idea what we were doing or where we were going. We tentatively were making plans and I had already decided that we needed to move somewhere else. But I was not given much time as the next day we were told lava was heading to where we were and we needed to evacuate... yet again. Many of our friends homes were now in great danger. We both agreed that living at the very overcrowded emergence shelter was not an option. As luck would have it, at about this time, Civil Defense loosened up some of their restrictions about people living in the upper part of Leilani.  SOOO we evacuated back to our house in Leilani!! haha, this to me was amusing. We manage to get most everything and our cats out before the roads were shut. My wife was concerned about the sulfur and air quality in the home, but we shut up the house and put in an REALLY good air purifier and soon the air in our home was smelling better than the air in town.
And it felt sooooo good to be home. It was a mess and the feeling of panic still nested in our home. It rains small pieces of light-weight lava rock from the fountains spewing lava about a mile away and the air outside smells like eggs. But it was home. Our house is ok, we still have electricity, and cable, we can close the windows and doors, and inside it feels great. The red glow of the sky in the backyard is incredible, and I FINALLY, for the first time in a month, had a night where I felt rested. FINALLY had a night where i felt calm, peaceful, safe. I always knew the lava would not take our home, and it all flows downhill from where we are. Our air purifier is a special one designed to remove SO2 from the air and inside our house the air is clean. When I meditate at night, I can feel the lava fountain and am honored to be in such a situation. I really appreciate being here and I think Shivani is more comfortable now too, especially since we got the air purifier.

Well the day after we got back into our home, I finally got a night of rest, we were told to meet with section 8 to let them know I lost my job. So we did. And I received the news that finally broke through my calm demeanor. They told us that starting July 15th they were not going to help with our rent here anymore and that they needed us to move. For at least 6 months, or until they deemed it safe here again.

This brings me almost to tears just talking about it. This was just yesterday this happened. I was sooo angry all day. I called my landlady and basically cried to her about everything. It should be noted here how much I love our landlady and she is a large reason of why I love our home so much. She lives next door and is just the best. She is such a sweet lady and I am very thankful for her in our existence.

Well the good news is (from my perspective at least), we will probably end up staying here regardless of what section 8 wants. We might "rent another place" until they let us move back. We're not sure exactly how to work it out, but we'll figure it out. I feel better knowing that, in our clean aired bubble in Leilani.

I know their are so many of my friends and others in such a worse position than us and that is part of what motivated my comments yesterday on perhaps donating this money to them. But I also know that we ourselves can definitely use it in these trying times as we are so disheveled, and I so greatly appreciate all of you for the love, prayers, thoughts, and assistance. I really can't stress enough how thankful I am. I think we may keep it and use it it ourselves, though if anyone would like us to contribute any of it elsewhere, please let me know and I will gladly do so.

We still might go to the mainland for a little, we might stay. I don't know what we are going to do for funds, but I am not worried, as I know funds will be there. I will continuing offering my services to all things I believe in and I know we will get through this.

I believe so strongly that everything that is happening will benefit us. Either physically, mentally, or spiritually, all of this will be for our benefit. We will keep you all updated, and thank you everyone for all you have and are doing for us.



 Shivani's experience:

The day a volcano relocates into your neighborhood is not a day you easily forget. 
It started out as a normal day, in our quiet Leilani neighborhood on the Big island.  After picking the kids up from school, we stopped to look at the small cracks that had recently opened up in the street at the bottom of Leilani street.  They were small and innocent looking enough, with the largest no bigger than a few inches wide.  Little did we know that 2 hours later, that just a few feet away, the earth would open up, spewing lava, steam, and toxic fumes into the air, and turn our world upside down.  
There was no notice, no time to prepare, I just grabbed our kids and drove away.  I was in shock for a bit, thinking that this lava eruption would be over soon and we could all go back to our normal lives.  But as the videos began to come in, all over the news and facebook, showing rivers of lava flowing down the streets consuming houses and cars in its path, it slowly began to dawn on me that we would not be coming back anytime soon, and when we did, who knows how much of our little neighborhood would be left.  
As if the lava consuming your neighborhood was not enough, there were more threats and dangers that we and our community would have to face in the coming weeks.  The lava in the crater of the volcano was draining, going underground, helping to feed the eruptions along the east rift.  Scientist warned that if the lava level in the crater dropped below sea level, it would set of a series of violent explosions in the volcano, sending ash and rock and more sulfur dioxide into the air.  The ash was said to be contain small particles of rock which if inhaled could cause respiratory problems even long term damage.  Meanwhile the lava was advancing down the east rift, headed towards the ocean.  Unfortunately, in its direct path, there stood the geothermal power plant.  Why the built a geothermal power plant on a rift zone, is beyond me, but here we were, with a very real threat that the lava or frequent earthquakes (100's of them a day), would compromise the integrity of the drilled wells, thus causing them to leak a poisonous gas into the air (one news article I read referred the gas as "Instant death" for anyone nearby).  As the threat of geothermal power plant exploding or leaking increased with the advancing lava, people began to flee the area. 
Meanwhile, the Sulfur Dioxide filled the air in the areas affected by lava and much of lower Puna that was downwind from the eruptions.  People got gas masks and began to evacuate their things as the air became unbreathable.  And then the Volcano erupted.
Our little town of Pahoa is starting to look like a ghost town these days.  Most have already left or are in the process of leaving.   The air quality is deteriorating and the lava shows no sign of letting up, (in fact it appears it is just getting started) and the explosions in the volcano crater only continue to become more violent as the lava levels in the crater continue to drop.  The island is being shook day and night by earthquakes and those still living here are emotionally shaken and stressed.  Occasionally when the winds die down or change directions, the smell of Sulfur blankets the whole area.  Since we are living in a place with no closing windows (only screens, as is common in this area) there is no way to shut out the toxic fumes and I feel myself getting unwell with headaches, sore throat, and generally a bit more lethargic as if everything takes a great more effort to do.  I worry about the children being exposed to these fumes and it is for their sake, we are am most needing to relocate.

After the initial eruptions we moved into  a friends place with the hopes that we could wait out the "storm".   But slowly I have come to accept the fact that we will not be moving back to our home Leilani anytime soon, and maybe not ever.  As the air quality deteriorates and the lava continues to flow closer and closer to our current location (At night the booms are so loud from the lava exploding out of the rift zone that it sounds like the forth of July!), I feel we will not be able to continue to stay where we are... 
 
Time for a plan B or maybe even a plan C.

We believe we will need to relocate soon.  I am starting this go fund me, in hopes of raising money to help our family relocate to an area further away from the lava flow.  Worse case scenario, we might need to leave the island completely  until the lava activity subsides (probably several months).  For a family of 5, plane tickets off the island would not be cheap, and they seem especially high right now and  in short supply! 

The other option is to search for housing elsewhere on the island that is further away from the lava flow but also not downwind of the explosions at the volcanic crater which are release a large amount of ash.  Housing in safe areas are also in high demand.  We may need to stay in airbnb until more permanent housing is found.   In which case the money raised here would help fund that temporary housing.  
And if, God forbid, our home and everything in it, does not survive the lava destruction, any money donated here, would be useful in rebuilding our lives elsewhere.  

It is often hard for me to ask for help.  Especially right now, when I see so many in my community suffering far worse than I, and I have been reluctant to ask for friends and family for assistance.  But no longer feel I have the luxury of waiting.  It is time to go.  

If it is in your heart or desire to contribute anything to our family's  Emergency evacuation fund, know that any amount is greatly appreciate and received with love.  If you are not able to , or do not feel called to, that is fine too, just please send love, prayers, and healing energy to the people of this community who are bravely facing these great challenges. 
Let us come together, uplift each other, comfort each other and hold each other in Love.  Blessings to all my Ohana!