LAHAINA >> At the age of 53, Leo Ramelb works a full-time job as a hotel bellman in Kaanapali. His 90-year- old father suffered a stroke Tuesday and was hospitalized last week at Maui Memorial Medical Center. And yet Ramelb and his wife, Erlinda, continue to open the front of their house so neighbors and strangers can pick up donated goods for free, six days a week.
It all started in the aftermath of the devastating Aug. 8 wildfire that killed 97 people when a stranger rolled up to the Ramelbs’ two-story house on Kuialua Street — just off Lahainaluna Road makai of Princess Nahienaena Elementary School and Lahaina Intermediate School — and asked if Leo wanted a case of water.
The two started talking and the stranger asked if Ramelb’s house — which already is home to nine adults, including Leo’s parents and Leo’s two grandchildren — could serve as a distribution center.
“Sure, why not?” Ramelb replied.
With major retailers closed nearer to the burn zone, the distribution hub immediately served as a lifeline for evacuees, many of whom lost their homes and had no clothes or food.
Six weeks later — even after the reopening of Walgreens, Longs Drugs and Safeway — Ramelb and Erlinda, 54, continue to operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., except on Sundays, for people in need of everyday staples, primarily bottled water because the Lahaina water supply remains contaminated with toxic materials.
Demand for free staples such as rice, diapers and fresh produce continue because many of the people who come by are struggling financially.
Since the fire, Erlinda Ramelb said, “most of them still not working.”
Evacuee Gerwin Vite, 45, now stays in a Kaanapali hotel after the fire and showed up for a case of bottled water last week. He declined the Ramelbs’ offer of a second case but did accept some fresh papaya.
“They’re kind and they’re good,” Vite said of the Ramelbs.
Maria Hernandez, 54, likewise declined an offer of a second case of bottled water but did walk to her car with some fresh apple bananas.
She called the Ramelbs’ distribution of free items, “Good. It’s good for me.”
The Ramelbs’ hub differs from others that sprung up in the aftermath of the fire because it’s run out of a private home, not in a park or community gathering place. And the Ramelbs don’t require an ID to show proof of residency, nor do they ask questions.
But Erlinda did pen a cardboard sign that reads “Don’t Take More Than You Need” after some people showed up repeatedly and left with armfuls of items.
She also wrote another cardboard sign that quotes from the Book of Job, a rich man from the King James version of the Bible who lost everything in a fire, including his children. But Job refused to become angry at God despite pleas from his wife.
“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away,” Ramelb paraphrased Job. “… He said, ‘I still bless the Lord no matter what happened to me.’ His faith is so strong in the Lord.”
Ramelb described herself and her husband as Baptists who are “not religious. We’re just believers in Jesus Christ.”
Leo Ramelb said he’s also motivated to work twice as hard — despite family stressors such as the stroke to his father, Johnny — because the fire spared his family and their home, unlike so many others.
“It inspired us to do something for the community, for their needs,” he said.
“Life goes on,” Erlinda Ramelb added.
Nephew Blake Ramelb has been blogging about the distribution hub and the evacuees’ needs, which has helped connect donations with what evacuees can actually use.
A 20-foot shipping container has been launched from Kauai to the Ramelbs’ home with even more donated items from the Garden Isle for Lahaina evacuees.
Mostly, Leo Ramelb said that folks in Lahaina need “basic every day items” including diapers for every age. They also appreciate fresh produce.
Officials warn that the air around Lahaina remains contaminated with arsenic, asbestos and other harmful particles emitted by the fire.
“We don’t know the air quality yet,” Erlinda Ramelb said.
So the Ramelbs’ operation has now expanded to include a donated closed tent where people with breathing issues can receive daily nebulizer treatments from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday administered by a nurse practitioner, along with respirator therapy and the distribution of free, donated air purifiers.
While services at the Ramelbs’ have increased since the early days, the bustle has slowed.
But demand continues with so many fire survivors still in need of work.
The Ramelbs’ distribution hub also has settled into a nice end-of-the-day routine many nights after operations finally shut down.
Before the fire, the Ramelbs knew many of their neighbors only in passing or with a wave.
Now, after helping countless people with their basic needs, their driveway and garage have become the frequent gathering spot for neighborhood potlucks after sometimes long, hot days hauling cases of water to vehicles.
As life after the fire continues to evolve into new phases, Leo Ramelb said that, “Eventually, we’re going to come to a point where we downsize.”
But he does not see that day coming anytime soon.
6 MORE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED
Maui police on Sunday released the names of six Lahaina residents as among the 97 confirmed Aug. 8 wildfire fatalities.
The six people were identified after their families were notified. They are Michael Morinho, 61; Ediomede Pavian Castillo, 35; Alfred Rawlings, 84; Maria Victoria Recolizado, 51; Justin Recolizado, 11; and Terri Thomas, 62.
Justin Recolizado was the only minor listed on the FBI-Maui Police Department list of unaccounted for or missing people, which on Friday included a total of 22 names.
Of the 97 confirmed fatalities, 82 have been publicly identified after notification of next of kin, while seven others have been identified but their families have not been located or notified.
