After noticing that some Kauaʻi kūpuna weren’t able to get their regularly scheduled home-delivered meals following Hurricane Lowell, one Līhuʻe couple stepped up and prepared hot food for dozens of vulnerable residents.
Damian and Donna Loo both care for seniors on Kauaʻi as part of their full-time jobs — Damian is a contractor with the county’s Agency on Elderly Affairs where he transports kūpuna to and from medical appointments, while his wife, Donna, co-founded Laulima Nō Na ʻOhana, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting seniors’ ability to age in place and independently.
But in their daily check-ups after Hurricane Lowell swept through the Garden Isle, it became clear that many of their clients were not getting the care they needed.
“We had people who weren’t even our existing clients asking us for food, water, ice — some of them were completely in the dark and had no flashlights or batteries,” Damian said. “It was a really heartbreaking scene.”
Many were without power, had no TVs or radios to get information, and the only food they had was expired or slowly going bad in their powerless refrigerators.
Donna said there was no question in her mind that she and her husband had to do something.
With their own power out, they headed to a friend’s house who had a backup battery, where they cooked 60 bentos the night after the storm.
For the first week, they were able to supply dozens of older adults with hot meals every day, as well as ice, fruit, coolers and water for those who needed it. But as word slowly got out about what Damian and Donna were doing, soon neighbors, businesses and friends started volunteering their own time, food and resources for the cause.
Local churches opened their doors as distribution centers, while residents picked up ingredients from food banks to give to food trucks, who cooked extra meals for the older adults.
“That's what our village does, neighbors helping neighbors,” Donna said. “We say it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to support our kūpuna and their caregivers.”
Damian's sister made a batch of spaghetti one night, while his nieces and nephews made bags of candy and wrote more than 100 cards filled with drawings and positive affirmations for their kūpuna to read.
Damian said it was humbling to see the joy the notes brought to the older adults, and that he felt they “nourished their souls, while the food nourished their bodies.”
“It was a great boost for them; they were so happy saying, ‘I’m going to pin it on my wall!’” he said. “It’s really just the little things like that so they know we are still thinking of you, we’re still caring for you.”
Donna said one of the most heartwarming experiences since Lowell hit was with a client who she sees every day. She normally would wake him up from a nap, or find him sitting on his couch every day at dinner time, until one day he was outside walking towards her to greet her.
“I said, ‘wow you look great! You’re walking and everything!’” she recalled. “And he said, ‘I think you’ve nourished me back to life.’”
Damian and Donna also saw the widespread impact on kūpuna mental health, noting that many of the assisted living centers had to cease their daily and weekly group activities after the storm due to power outages, damage or short staffing. This led the Loos to open up their own home to host mahjong and dinner nights to help reunite their community.
But Damian knows that this is not something to just move on from. He emphasized that these traumatic events will have a lasting impact on both kūpuna and their loved ones, many of whom live off island and did not have immediate access to their family members.
“Knowing that we can be there for them, knowing that their loved one is being cared for and brought a hot meal brings them peace of mind, and it's just priceless,” Donna said. “Grandparents are a great pillar in the community, so that's who we need to be there for now.”
