Help us to get a kūpuna fire-survivor housed

Perhaps some cases don't fit in the traditional system because they are meant to be carried by the collective.

They don’t fit into the system because the system isn’t designed from a holistic framework and these people are here to help us to see a different way is needed.

They remind us of the power of community taking care of community. Heaviness carried by many hands so that it’s not too heavy for anyone person or organization.

Yvonne is one such case. She is a Kūpuna with dementia and emphysema. She has not received any fire relief, housing assistance or FEMA funding and is starting over from scratch.

She called Lahaina home for more than 1/2 her life. She nearly didn’t make it out of the fire alive (God bless you Larry (whomever you are) for helping her to escape). She still talks at least once/ every few days about that moment she couldn’t move as the mountain of flames came towards her. All she could do was walk one small step at a time. She had friends die in the fire and her landlord passed away this year (he got a lung infection which turned into pneumonia after the fire and he never recovered).

Yvonne’s case is complicated and we have spent 5 months trying to get her into the programs she should be eligible for but she’s hit barrier after barrier. After the fire she was bought to the Hyatt and initially put under her landlords case. She lost all her vital records except her now expired Lahaina ID, her library card, and an old Denmark drivers permit from her 20’s. They told the landlord to take Yvonne off his FEMA account and they would give her her own account number.

She was never given her own number. She was in so much trauma after the fires she missed the race to Maui Peoples fund, the RedCross bridge funding and other nonprofit foundation fundraisers that all seemed to end just a month after the fires happened.

Just before Christmas she was really struggling and she went downstairs to the smoking area outside the hotel. They had moved the area for construction. She had her cigarette and came back into the hotel and had left her room key in her room. She came to the front desk and they said she had to leave. We don’t know if they couldn’t find her name because it was under her landlords name or if they assumed she was a homeless person (she has dementia and isn’t always super clear).

As you can imagine she was utterly distraught. It was raining hard that day and she was soaking wet and got onto the bus to dry off. “I️ asked if they could drop me off close to my old home. I️ just wanted to go home” she said.

She rode that bus for hours and thankfully the angels were on her side as the last person that got on that bus that evening was a woman named Jenny who recognized Yvonne.

She said “she was shivering and so weak and I️ couldn’t just leave her there so I️ brought her home”.

She collapsed onto a chair and barely woke up to eat or drink for the next few weeks. Jenny cared for her over Christmas and fed her and bathed her and shared her tiny studio space with her. She quite literally kept her alive. Jenny finally reached out for assistance mid January and when I️ met Yvonne her oxygen was in the 80’s and she could hardly get to the bathroom and back without being completely out of breath and unable to speak. The mention of hospitals was terrifying for her and so we worked on booking doctors and nurses who could come see her where she was. We got her breathing treatments and worked on trying to get her support from the various organizations. Even though she has her landlords statement, pre-disaster rental agreement, expired ID with her Lahaina address, bank statement, Lahaina library card and purchases showing she was in Lahaina the day of the fire- they are still saying it isn't enough to verify her. She is exhausted and giving up and so this is a moment we need to come together as a community to help lift her during this time.

MRR and Makai foundation has been covering her airbnb's while we worked to get her through the system but we have run out of funding. We are hoping to raise enough to cover her the next month in an airbnb and we have miraculously found a rental for her on the Westside opening in August for $2500/mo and she can cover $500 each month. Any additional money raised beyond rent will go towards caregiving support, replacing clothes, shoes and personal items that she lost in the fire.

Breakdown of costs:

$3500 airbnb for 1 mo

$12,000 rent for 6 months starting August

$6,000 for 6 months caregiving support

$4,000 for replacing everything lost in the fire

100% of funds will go directly into her bank account an accessible for her to use via her debit card. You can also donate directly to the Makai foundation with a note (For Yvonne) via VENMO or Paypal and 100% of those funds will go to her. Donations sent that way are tax-deductible and receipts will be shared.

If you can support in anyway- this will be the greatest blessing for her. This is a moment for us to show the power of community. Of the way tiny blessings can add up, and many hands and hearts lifting impossible obstacles through grace. Thank you for being a part of this miracle.