Salvation Army pledges another $1.5M for Maui wildfire survivors
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
The Salvation Army has been preparing and receiving donated meals and then distributing them to thousands of people affected by the Lahaina fire. In partnership with the University of Hawaii Maui College culinary instructors, corporate and local restaurants and Hopper Maui the meals are ferried from the Maui campus to West Maui.
The Salvation Army today announced it is committing another $1.5 million to the next phase of short-term recovery services for Maui wildfire survivors.
This next phase will expand assistance to wildfire survivors who have relocated to the neighbor isles. At the same time, the nonprofit continues to help displaced survivors on Maui with food, gift cards, and emotional and spiritual care.
“For the last two months, our focus has largely been on those who remained on Maui,” said Major Troy Trimmer, divisional commander of The Salvation Army’s Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division, in a news release. “We will continue to care for them as long as we’re needed, but we wanted to expand our reach to survivors currently living off-island too with more funding for short-term recovery services.”
Since The Salvation Army’s services are spread throughout Hawaii, he said, the organization created a plan to serve Maui residents living on neighbor islands through local units.
“We will provide transportation assistance, help with groceries, material goods and other services,” he said. “Because our donors have been very generous, we’re grateful and pleased to extend our services where needed most.”
Thus far, the nonprofit says it has prepared more than 95,000 meals; helped coordinate over 718,000 meals; provided $36,700 worth of gift cards as part of its early recovery assistance program; given emotional and spiritual care support to 2,710 survivors.
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In all, the Salvation Army says officers, staff and volunteers have invested more than 10,000 hours into disaster response efforts.
The Salvation Army — known for its annual Thanksgiving event — is an active member of the State of Hawaii Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. With additional donations, the nonprofit says it can continue to expand its Maui response efforts.
“We are asking for financial gifts currently, as that allows us to maximize purchasing power and reinvest in Maui’s economy, which has taken a tremendous hit,” said VOAD Chairman Victor Leonardi. “We would like to increase our capacity to respond to the needs of the community. As we identify unmet needs and work to provide short-term assistance and long-term solutions, warehouse space and cold food storage would allow us to expand our operations.”
The Salvation Army is also hiring for newly created positions for case management, disaster recovery and volunteer coordination on Maui.
More information is available at Hawaii.SalvationArmy.org.
