Please help support the Gay Family

Update from the Gay Family 9/6/2023:

Mahalo Nui Loa. Our apologies that this update has taken so long to write. These past four weeks have been a whirlwind, full of a range of emotions. In life you watch natural disasters happen to people and you feel deeply for them and their situation, but you can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders or it will consume you. Your life continues forward, always remembering and holding space but never thinking that something of such magnitude could happen to you, your family, your friends, your community or your home…until it does. The scope of the Lahaina Wildfires is so large. Every business and every person that we know has been impacted. Thomas and I have spent 14 years living and working in Lahaina Town. Our roots run deep here and we had every intention of raising our daughter Lennon here. Skipping under the Banyan Tree, sailing out of the harbor, coffee at our favorite cafe, local shopping for our family/friends, ice cream every Friday night, music at Fleetwoods with our Ohana visiting, bike rides from our home downtown, harbor sunsets…we grew up here. We became captains here, we grew into our careers, into parents, into the people we are today…here in Lahaina Town. We felt like we mattered here, acknowledged, appreciated, apart of the community. It is all gone now. All of it and we are trying to pickup the pieces and start over. The only thing remaining is the community, and you are all now apart of this. Apart of the beautiful life after a fire. The new growth, the greenery, it happened because of your support.

When my Sister told in the days following the fire that she created this GoFund me to help our family I couldn’t find the words to show our gratitude. We were and continue to be in a little shock from this situation. We were cut off from the world for almost a week, my family were our eyes and ears. I didn’t even get to look at the GoFund me until a week later. We can not even begin to express the emotions we feel as we scroll through and see all that donated to our livelihood. Your love and donations have helped carry our Ohana from Maui to Kauai. We decided to make room on the West Side for a family who was in need of a home, a school for their keiki and jobs. The West Side of Maui will be forever changed, and Lahaina was the heart of not just the West Side but of Maui. Trying to navigate the loss was really heavy and hard on Maui. Because of your financial support we decided to build a new life here on Kauai. To get Lennon into a beautiful elementary school, extra curricular activities and be surrounded by the magic that this island is filled with. We need to heal. We need to not re-open our scab after it has started to heal. We needed a little break from the reality. Although, it is extremely hard to leave behind a place that has given us so much, we needed to prioritize our mental health and look towards the future. Even though the future is undecided, we have the space to build it how we would like, not being scared of another fire.

Your love, generosity and support have helped lift us up. Carry us through the days when all this seems too much to bare, we feel comforted knowing we have such an amazing support system. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We will be forever grateful to you, for extending yourselves to help make this time not feel so vulnerable and uncertain. Your friendship is appreciated beyond belief. If and when you find yourself on Kauai please do not hesitate to ever reach out to us, we would love to show you the magic of this island. Your kokua will be reciprocated. Our future is brighter because of your love. Mahalo Nui Loa.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melodie Beattie

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Hi there, my name is Kayleigh Stalie. If you are receiving this then you must know and love Ashleigh, Thomas & Miss Lennon Gay. Recently Hurricane Dora caused unimaginable destruction to the island of Maui, specifically burning down Lahaina town. Our Maui family is safe but resources are very limited. Being so far away and unable to physically go help, our Ohana here on the mainland feels helpless and we are trying our best to provide kokua (help/aid). Between patchy cell service, continued power outages, and now water being shut off they are still waiting for resources and additional aid. If you can donate please know from the bottom of our hearts how much this will help them stay on their feet and reduce the additional financial stress there may be since jobs are not guaranteed if there are no tourists-- the timeline and the extent of this devastation is still very uncertain. If you are unable to donate please continue the prayers and good thoughts as we are all grieving such a magical place, but forever grateful that our Maui Babes are safe and are "keep on keeping on."

May there always be trade winds behind you, rainbows above you, and Aloha all around you. The Aloha magic runs deep and is very strong as it has touched all of our lives.