My family and I were displaced by the last Kona Low storm, and after finally moving into a new home, Hurricane Lala flooded the bottom floor. We had barely started to recover from the last storm when this happened again. On top of the flooding, we lost all of our refrigerated food during a power outage that lasted more than 30 hours, and because of road closures, my husband could not get to work.

We are barely making ends meet. I lost my job during the last storm and have not been able to find work yet, so every lost hour and every new expense hits us hard. Our children have anxiety every time it rains or another storm seems like it may be coming, and we do too. We are doing our best to cope, but the stress has been overwhelming. Our Rent-A-Center furniture was damaged in the flooding, and we were told we will still be charged for it, which has only added more pressure when we already feel lost and unsure of what to do next.

Even while going through all of this, we have kept showing up for others. We have helped feed more than 1,000 families across Oahu and have run a free supply hub out of our home. We believe in supporting our community, but once this emergency passes, we still have to face our own reality and figure out how to rebuild again.

Donations will help us with the basics we are struggling to hold onto right now: food for our children, drinking water, rent, electric and water bills, repairs to our home, and replacing belongings we lost, including furniture and other personal items. We also need help with transportation after losing two cars in the storms, and one of our remaining trucks has now broken down from age.

If you are able to help, any donation or share would mean so much to my family. Your support would help us get through the next days, weeks, and months with a little more stability and peace of mind as we try to recover once again.