Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

I am not a local, I've been accepted as a permanent guest of this

ʻĀina for 5 years. I have respect and gratitude for my home and community every single day. They say the island of Maui will either accept you or release you from the land. I'm lucky enough to have been accepted and to call Lahaina my home.

Like many others, with no warning, I escaped with my phone and barely my life.

With my boyfriend driving, we sat in gridlock traffic in pitch black smoke. The horror was unimaginable. The silence was eerie. Then the sky became red and silence was cut like a knife with screaming.

Ignoring the barricades, we drove on sidewalks to get to potential safety. Mass chaos and pure fear everywhere we looked.

While in gridlock, a Filipina auntie flung herself onto our vehicle and begged to be let in. We frantically pulled her into the car and slammed the door quickly behind her to keep the smoke from coming in. She had tried to get several other cars to let her in theirs. She spoke minimal english. She held me so tight that my arms bruised for more than a week after.

We watched people behind us vacate their cars and jump in the water. I think to Myself if we were three to four cars behind us, we would have had to do the same. Many of those people behind us lost their lives in their vehicles.

Like many, I still haven't come to terms with what we experienced as a community, what I experienced as an individual, and the things I will never be able to unsee.

This summary only scrapes the surface of my "story". I am one of many who lost a house, a job and a home - Lahaina. I am grateful to have my life.

This fundraiser is important and intended to help me rebuild everything I've lost in this tragedy, to include mental health and recovery services.

After three weeks and no government help, I'm asking my friends and family for help. Thank you for reading my story.