Aloha everyone,

I am creating this GoFundMe on behalf of a family very dear to me and to our North Shore community—Mahealani (Honey Girl) Chandler, her partner Abe Balmores, and their sweet one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl.

Hurricane Lowell devastated their home in Wainiha Valley. Their home is no longer livable. There is a large hole in the roof, and everything that remained inside during the hurricane has been severely damaged by rain, moisture, and mold. They have lost so much of what they owned, and right now, this young family is houseless.

But what many people may not realize is that while Honey and Abe have suffered a tremendous loss of their own, they have spent the past two weeks helping everyone else.

From the moment the hurricane passed, they have been boots on the ground alongside Honey’s mom, Megan Wong, and the rest of the community recovery effort. They have not taken a single day off.

Abe has put his years of chainsaw experience to work clearing fallen trees, opening access, cutting green waste, and helping families reclaim their yards and homes. He has also taken the lead with volunteers doing yard and green-waste cleanup throughout the community.

Honey has been going door to door conducting assessments and identifying families, kūpuna, and individuals who need help. She helps coordinate volunteers and leads them to homes that need cleanup both inside and outside. Many days she does all of this with her baby right alongside her when her aunty isn’t available to watch her.

Their days can easily stretch to 14 hours.

Before volunteers arrive, Honey and Abe are preparing tools, gloves, drinks, and whatever supplies are needed for the day. At the end of a long day, when most people would be ready to stop, they are servicing tools and preparing everything to do it all again the next morning. Often, there is still a food or supply delivery to make to a kūpuna or someone who cannot get out to receive assistance.

Meanwhile, they have barely touched their own home.

They have been cleaning everyone else’s homes while their own belongings remain damaged inside. With nowhere yet to properly dispose of the amount of large debris and household waste, they have chosen not to drag everything outside only to leave it piled in the yard or along the road. Instead, they keep showing up for everyone else.

That tells you exactly who Honey and Abe are.

They are the givers. They are the people who see someone in need and immediately ask, “How can we help?” The list of things these two accomplish during their long days is something that can only come from the heart.

And because they have been volunteering so extensively in the recovery effort, they have also been unable to return to their normal work and income.

What many people helping alongside them may not even know is that they are hurricane victims too. They lost their home. They lost belongings. They are displaced with a young baby.

Honey and Abe do not know that this GoFundMe is being started for them. If you asked them, they would probably tell you there are other families who need the help more. That is exactly why I feel we need to do this.

I don’t want the people working the hardest to care for everyone else to be forgotten.

It is time for us to take care of them, too.

Any donation, no matter the amount, will help Honey, Abe, and their baby begin replacing what they lost, meet their immediate needs, secure stable housing, and eventually rebuild a home and some sense of normalcy after Hurricane Lowell.

If you cannot donate, please share their story.

They have spent these first two weeks giving everything they have to this community. Now we have an opportunity to give some of that aloha back.

Mahalo nui loa for helping this beautiful ʻohana rebuild.