Lahaina
Donation protected
Hi Everyone, I am Victoria Wayne-Bowley and I was born and raised in Maui. My parents founded Maui Clothing Company in Lahaina the year I was born.
The Lahaina Fire was devastating and 4 of our employees lost their homes and 21 of them have been displaced and are in shelters. We are raising funds and 100% of donations will go directly to our employees to help them in the next week with their essential needs. Many of you might have seen on the news that the local community, friends, and family have been key to helping everyone survive during this crisis by providing much needed food, medical supplies, clothing and water. The larger organizations have not yet dispersed funds to those in need, so these direct contributions have been very useful to supporting the people on Maui today.
Maui Clothing lost its first store on Front Street Lahaina that opened 40 years ago and 2 of our other stores nearby were impacted and are unable to open. However, this is nothing compared to the personal loss of a home or someone that lost their family member or loved one. As of 8/16, the People Locator list has 1,110 people missing on Maui and many fear the death toll will reach the 1,000 person mark. This is already the largest fire disaster in US history in the last 100 years.
If you would like to help our families who lost their homes or are displaced now, we really appreciate your contributions.
To give further insight on how this tragedy is impacting the whole island please watch this very short video from a local Maui resident:
Ultimately, Lahaina is one town on our island and hopefully tourists will support coming to other locations such as Kihei and Wailea, so we can keep Maui Clothing alive and an economy that is reliant on tourism to survive. Please spread the words over the coming months that Maui will still be open in Kihei and Wailea for these holiday seasons.
Mahalo for your support, sympathy, prayers and generosity!
Organizer
Victoria Bowley
Organizer
Lahaina, HI