Kahu (Pastor) Debra "Debbie" Wong Yuen of Kauaha'ao Congregational Church-UCC, is raising funds for emergency recovery help for Kauaha'ao Congregational Church-UCC.

On the late night and early morning of August 15-16, 2026, Hurricane Lala devastated the southern communities in the Ka'u district on Hawai'i Island, in the State of Hawai'i.

Kauaha'ao Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, is located in the center of the valley in Waiohinu, Ka'u, and was hit hard with gushing flood waters, boulders, rocks, trees, mud and debris coming down from the Ha'ao spring and flood control on the top of the valley.

The multi-purpose building is used as the Sanctuary, social hall and kitchen. The NA/AA Support Group also uses the hall and kitchen for support meetings three times a week.

Flood waters blew out the double glass doors to the Sanctuary, toppling over the comfortable fabric chairs that are now covered with wet mud, toppling over flower stands, water and mud has ruined the piano, and covered the bookshelves with hymnals and Bibles with wet mud. Flood waters as high as 20" rushed through the Sanctuary leaving thick mud as high as 4" deep. Now the church members of this small congregation have no Sanctuary for worship services, funerals, celebration of life services, and the NA/AA groups have no meeting place during a time they need each other. The rushing flood waters knocked over chairs that were set up in the social hall area for use by the Support Groups. The gushing flood waters also knocked over 2 refrigerators, went up 1/3 high of the gas stoves with mud water, covered shelves with kitchen ware and supplies, damaged vacuums, blowers, PA System and speakers...and a whole lot more.

Also severely damaged with walls blown out from the force of the gushing flood waters going through the building, is the Storage Building that is used as a lawn mower shed for the riding mowers, that are now covered in mud, and a used bookstore- "The Book Shack" that was run by a nonprofit organization. Six 4'x8' section of wooden stages that are stored under the overhang of the Storage Building is now destroyed. These stages are used often by families in the Ka'u community for their family celebrations for musicians to stand on. Now there is no used bookstore, no stages for the community to use, no riding lawn mower to mow any open lawn of the church campus, which is now covered with boulders, rocks, trees, debris and mud.

Also damaged is the restroom building for men and women. The torrential wind and rain lifted up the skylight sheets on the roof where all the rain water came in, and gushing flood waters also went under the door entering the restroom, flooding the floors with water and mud.

The hardest hit and saddest...is the church graveyard where generations of loved ones were laid to rest, their concrete grave cover now covered with 6-8 feet of boulders, rock, trees, mud, debris. Many headstones have been washed away from their concrete grave cover it was placed on, and even some concrete grave covers were washed away from its original resting site.

The three acre property of the church is bordered with rock walls around three-fourths of the property. The gushing flood waters with boulders, etc., washed all the rock walls onto the church property, with many washed away down the highway.

The church's insurance covers only buildings and some contents, but not any damage to the property: graveyard repair/restoration and rock wall repair, as well as cleaning all the boulders, rocks, trees, debris and mud from the church campus.

Being a very small congregation, the church's finances are very limited, at times we struggle to pay the monthly utility bills and insurance premiums, thus the need to have fundraisers twice a year to help cover these expenses. Knowing the hard financial situation of the church, I've decline any Pastoral pay.

The church has no funds for this kind of unexpected catastrophic repairs not covered by the insurance. Donations received will go towards the restoration of the graveyard, removal of all the boulders, rocks, trees and debris, and replacement of displaced headstones found. Also funds will be used for the re-building of the stone wall around the property.

We estimate the restoration and repairs to be around $150,000.00, possibly more.

Like many other homes and business in Ka'u, we are hurting deeply from this heartbreaking tragedy. Kauaha'ao Congregational Church is not physically open yet. Recovery will take a long time...but we are here. We will plan on holding worship services in a safe spot on the church campus once an area is cleared.

Kauaha'ao Congregational Church was established in 1841 by Rev. John D. Paris. We are a very small membership congregation with strong faith in Jesus the Christ our Lord and Savior. To learn more about the history of our church that is rooted in faith and serves with Aloha, you can read about us at https://www.hcucc.org click on Directory, then Associations, then Hawai'i Island Association, look for Waiohinu on the bottom of the list of churches, then click on our church name.

We carry a group exemption under 501(c)(3) under the United Church of Christ. The group exemption number is 1665, and the denomination carries tax ID number 13-1957221. The church's DCCA State of Hawai'i file number is 1559 D2.

We are sincerely humbled and grateful, and thank you very much for any contributions you freely give. Our Lord Jesus Christ will bless you.