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Published Nov 24, 2024
Down the street from the Maui Invitational, Lahaina families are struggling
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David Harns  •  Spartans Illustrated
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Publisher’s Note: Spartans Illustrated is a website dedicated to telling the stories of Michigan State student-athletes and recruits – but sometimes the stories surrounding Michigan State athletics are bigger than sports. This is one of those stories.

Michigan State men’s basketball team is in Hawaii for the Maui Invitational, the first one being held back on the island of Maui since the devastating wildfires of August 2023. The organizers and the coaches have discussed the importance of the tournament returning to Lahaina and, while I agree, it is still very difficult to see people rebuilding their homes just miles from the Lahaina Civic Center, where this tournament is playing out. Michigan State and Tennessee played an exhibition game last year and sent the proceeds to a recovery fund here. Those organizing the Maui Invitational are doing everything they can to help. Charitable organizations have stepped up.

All of that is true. But it is still difficult to see, and I want to share a specific way in which the readers and subscribers of this site can help a neighborhood in a very specific way, if you’re willing. The people mentioned in this article did not want their pictures taken, but they did give permission to use their names and tell their story. The main picture for this story was taken in the Lahaina neighborhood and edited to remove identifying features.

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LAHAINA, HAWAII – It's an overcast Sunday afternoon in November and Lani Kane is driving from her house down the street. In the back of her green ATV she has supplies, including gas for the generator powering the worksite to which she is headed.

Her house was spared from the Lahaina wildfires last year. Just across the street, though, her neighbors were not so lucky.

As she pulls into the makeshift driveway on the left – near where her friends’ house had stood for nearly 90 years before being burned to the ground 15 months ago – she is greeted by the crew at work.

They’ve been at it for seven days now – after having received the proper permits from the government and the funding from Samaritan’s Purse for the supplies – and the progress is impressive for this group of do-it-yourselfers: a freshly poured slab of concrete on the right, and a solid wooden base forming on the left.

Nearly a dozen people are on site today, working to get their friends and family back into their house. It is Sunday, after all, so everyone who is able to work, is working. Tomorrow, many will go to their day jobs and join the crew afterwards, working until the very last bit of sun disappears from the sky.

This wasn’t ground zero of the Lahaina wildfires, but the damage was still unimaginable. The winds were strong that fateful day, carrying the fire to this neighborhood, and inflicting life-changing chaos on dozens of families, many who have yet to even start rebuilding.

Just off the thoroughfare, this formerly vibrant neighborhood is now filled with empty lot after empty lot, up and down the hill overlooking the ‘Au’au Channel, with the Hawaiian island of Lanai providing a majestic backdrop.

Lani and her boyfriend were on the US mainland, dropping her son off at college, when the fire wreaked havoc on her friends’ lives – she saw the devastation on Facebook. When she returned to her neighborhood, she had brought handheld generators, water filters, and other supplies with her and knew that – if her house had survived – she would need to step up to assist her neighbors.

And step up she did – her neighbors credit her with keeping things going in her little neighborhood for upwards of six months until the government made some headway.

Kamuela and Pam Hamakua survived the wildfires that day but lost everything they had when the fire enveloped the home their family had lived in since the 1930s. They had to leave quickly and had brought enough supplies to last them and their two sons for four days. A generous spirit, Pam let her family know right away that they were going to have to ration their food and water now as she had just given some to another family which she determined was more in need than hers was. This happened several times during the first few days in the emergency shelter – the Hamakuas gave to others who were in a worse off position than they were.

The dozen folks on site with drills and saws and hammers are returning the favor this day, providing the labor needed to rebuild their family home, albeit at a smaller footprint than before.

“I guess we’re likeable,” she says with a smile and a sparkle in her eye, as to why her neighbors are helping her family rebuild. When they inherited the house from their parents, there was no insurance on it – and they never bought a policy. They are beyond grateful to Samaritan’s Purse for paying for the materials and very thankful to their neighbors for helping provide the labor.

Kamuela, 48, is a carpenter by trade and has taken a leave of absence to help coordinate this rebuild. Pam, 52, wants to move in as soon as possible, and finish the house as they go. Her youngest son, 17, will graduate from high school soon – and the 25-minute drive from her temporary residence is not preferred.

She wants to be here.

Their older son, 25, is also on site, hat turned backwards, working alongside his family and friends. The oldest sibling of the Hamakua family, a daughter, 27, has moved to California for now with Kamuela’s and Pam’s granddaughter, age 3.

She wants them to come home as soon as possible.

Since Samaritan’s Purse came through with the money needed to rebuild, the biggest stress has moved from the financial realm to the waiting for supplies realm. Everything that comes to Maui comes on a barge, and there are not enough building materials on the island for everyone’s needs. In addition, everything is expensive here. The farther you get from O’ahu (where Honolulu is located), the more expensive it is – picture $6 gallons of gas and $8 loaves of bread in many parts of Maui.

Pam tells stories of people from nearby Hawaiian islands arriving on boats after the fire, bringing with them gasoline, food and supplies. Her sons are hunters and fishers and will go get fish and deer, as needed, to provide a meal for the family and the workers.

Once their house is rebuilt, it will be on to the next one in the neighborhood; that’s the way it is going to be for the foreseeable future. There are fourth-generation, sixth-generation, seventh-generation families – scattered throughout the neighborhood who have homes that need rebuilding.

Pam counts herself as one of the lucky ones, though.

“I’m standing here,” she said.

A few folks in her neighborhood lost their lives.

Her family was in a hotel room the first six months; now she comes by the site every day (even when there was rubble). Pam and Lani are worried about land grabbers. People are desperate and might be willing to sell way below market prices to survive. They’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Everybody is on edge and defensive. Pam mentions that suicides have reached double digits. She mentions that a simple drive up the road or to the airport and it’s clear –everybody is living their lives.

“We knew we were going to be forgotten,” she said. “We just didn’t think it was going to hurt so much.”

Spartans Illustrated is ‘adopting’ this family during their rebuild. We will be buying meals and sending supplies – perhaps even labor – and working with this neighborhood to get them what they need. If you are interested in assisting, please send an email to SpartansIllustrated@gmail.com. I will reply with my cell phone number, and we will take it from there.