A little more than two months after the Maui fires, the need for financial support remains substantial.
The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation's Maui Strong Fund has raised close to $140 million from over 270,000 contributors in nearly 60 countries — an outpouring of support following the wildfire disaster. The foundation has distributed over $30 million to the community so far.
Speaking to The Conversation, CEO Micah Kāne shared the foundation's distribution plan and the safeguards in place. He said the key is using the money to alleviate immediate needs while also leveraging the funds for long-term use.
The HCF is moving from the "rapid response" phase to "recovery and stabilization," which he called the most difficult part of a disaster.
"You're moving from just getting essential services to trying to create an interim new normal that a family can, not just survive in, but thrive in over the next couple of years. It's very expensive. You're making much larger investments and so the contributions that are coming in from people around the world are really providing that continuity of life that government and the private sector is going to need to do rebuild Lāhainā," he told The Conversation.
The foundation's 80 staff members pivoted to support the disaster. Kāne said they are now focusing more on larger grants to ensure long-term stability for the 7,900 individuals living in 40 hotels.
"It takes a tremendous amount of collaboration, it takes big investment, and there's a lot of government resources out there. But there's resources that we can position the Maui Strong Fund in a way where we're getting a seven-to-one type leverage on our donor investments," he added.
Kāne said a special oversight committee is in place while they process the funds.
"We're just trying to make sure that our internal infrastructure is set so that we're doing things very appropriately and transparent."
This interview aired on The Conversation on Oct. 12, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
