The Mauna Kahalawai Lions Club hosted an event at the Maui Kuʻia Estate Chocolate factory in Lahaina a few weeks ago to memorialize the Aug. 8, 2023, fires.
More than 30 individuals had an opportunity to share their stories about the wildfires with each other.
"What I decided to do this term is to host an event that would pull the community together," said Dennis Elms, president of Lahaina’s Lion’s Club. "Whoever wanted to come tell their stories. We were telling stories individually, passing in the stores, you know, on the phone, but we never got a chance to tell the story as a group, and kind of heal. It was for healing."
Participants at the event wrote messages on small stones that will be added to a makeshift memorial in Olowalu to mark the day the fires took place in Maui.
"We passed out pebbles that people could write their loved ones, write messages, just write things that, you know, they wanted to express themselves with," Elms said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Aug. 9, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
