Maui Fires-Tiny House Help!

Aloha kakou, hi everyone! September 4th Update: Lahaina, HI

Maui Updates: aloha, so we are changing our focus from food, clothing and immediate shelter to long term shelter and trying to fundraise enough to get a tiny house. This one can be ready in 3 months, will need a trailer to put it on and we are trying to make it off grid as Maui isn’t designed to set up tiny homes. https://www.aaatinyhomes.com/models The one we are hoping to get is the ‘Skyview Model’. Basically, it will take 2.5-3 years to rebuild our house as all the underlying infrastructure has to be rebuilt. (Everything melted from sewage to water pipes etc.) It’s totally ground zero.

We know there are a ton of people asking for money, some legit, some not, but please check up our address and you will see it’s all gone. Zillow now just shows our home as ashes. 201 Komo Mai Street, Lahaina, HI 96761.

So far, millions have been fundraised for Hawai’i but people affected aren’t seeing a penny. We have not received any kokua other than this fundme but are working diligently to help others around us. Cy is sourcing out tools and I am helping with admin stuff and filling out forms etc. I’ve made cheat sheets on what, how, where to apply for things like SBA etc. FEMA apparently has a ton of resources but we have been denied FEMA as we own our house and lost not just our home, but small businesses as well, so we have no income to show them. Red Cross has not helped with food or shelter and keeps referring us to FEMA who denies help. On top of that, we still have to pay mortgage although we applied for forbiddance and have received no replies.

Our situation is dire as we now know the hopes of long term accommodations with sky high rents on top of mortgage is not a reality we can afford especially since we lost our small businesses as well.

We were way underinsured as we were prepared for hurricanes so right now, we are running circles begging for help and just getting overlooked by everyone who keeps sending us to dead ends. That is the stark reality here.

I grew up on the streets as a kid, put into fosters at age 7, left when I was 13 due to the abuse and been on my own since. I just can’t believe at almost 50 years old, I am homeless again. That is why I’m asking for help with a tiny house. The rents here have quadrupled as everyone is making money off the disaster and we can’t afford it. If we aren’t able to afford the tiny house, we will have to leave which is so sad considering how much we have done for the community over the years. Looking back on my tasting tour, I have thousands of photos under the banyan tree so it’s sad we have to leave so others can make money. Honestly, it’s not fair but life isn’t fair and I get that. The one thing I want more than ever though is that security that I had when we won our home on October 17, 2017 through workforce housing lottery. Having rented since I was 13 and going through numerous landlords, it made me feel like for once, no one could take away my home or sell it from under me. Just didn’t think of a fire…hurricanes, yes, fire, no.

Anyways, if you can, please please help and share this, so we can get a tiny house and stay and keep helping rebuild.

venmo: https://venmo.com/gigi-gaea

paypal: www.paypal.com [email redacted]

fundme: https://gofund.me/768c7dfc

**I have lots of photos of before and after as well as videos of the destruction however, data reception is very sporadic or nonexistent.

August 9, 2023-Aloha, my name is Gigi Ga'ea, owner of Hawai'i Tasting Tours and my husband Cy Gabourie, and I just lost everything we owned as many others did too. We live in Lahaina and we are asking for help because we weren't insured properly for this disaster which is why we are reaching out right away. We are both deeply involved in all things Lahaina and can't believe we just lost what was once almost the capital of Hawai'i, the great banyan tree planted in 1873, let alone our neighborhood, house and every single thing we own or owned. Our ohana, animals and neighbors are safe which is what matters but we are also in dire straits as we were not prepared for this financially. It's unprecedented as to what occurred. It's like the apocalypse and our focus is asking other islands to help house displaced residents, as well as ourselves, while trying to recoup our losses also. Any aloha you can share sure would help tremendously and we would never ask for this help unless we were in dire straits and we are. Medications, wallets, everything, it's gone, just like that. We didn't realize how serious this fire was and that our world would be destroyed in just hours which took years to build. Once we are allowed to go back to our street, we can send photo updates but for now, you can see just how devastating this fire is online. Your gifts of aloha would immediately go for shelter, food and medication and then things like clothes etc., we will ensure all receipts are listed here to show how special your gifts are and what it's doing for us. Mahalo for your kokua, support, aloha, love, and consideration.....