Aloha! My name is Austin and my family and I have been running and operating a small bounce house rental company in Hawaii, Bounceapalooza. We have been helping families in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam since 2016.

Things haven't always been easy since COVID, but we always found a way to get by and overcome any challenge we encountered.

In the middle of May, we were hit hard by a theft. Both of our work trucks, along with 90 percent of our inflatables, were stolen. We lost upwards of $50,000 of equipment.

One of the worst things about this was the timing; we were hit right before the end of the school year when we had a bunch of graduations and school events that we had to cancel. It's terrible having to let families know last minute that we are unable to fulfill our obligations and ruin these parties they have spent so much time and effort planning.

This is a huge and crippling blow to our business and our family. We are doing what we can to try to stay afloat right now, but it is an uphill struggle.

We don't want to give up and throw in the towel. That led me to come here, to humbly ask for any assistance people can provide to help us get started again.

My goal is to try to raise about $10,000 so we can order 4 or 5 new inflatables. It's a far cry from where we used to be, but it should be enough to keep us going until we are able to grow again on our own.