I support supporting the community HUBS as they have been the Pillars of the disaster relief. When the people needed food water medical supplies and hugs, anything we could think they may need to move forward had been supplied by community to community. This is where healing and trauma relief begins. Having a sense of community and unity In the struggle. When you close our hubs, you cut off the connection to people and resources that our Lahaina community needs desperately. It’s not life goes on as normal over here, as in other parts of the island. People need to recognize that.
I have been working closely with many of the hubs since the early days of the fire. I worked with West Maui Community Aid, and I understood that the mission was always to get these hubs to shift towards "basic necessities." That has never happened, but west Maui also has never had the means to support folks in the way that they need. Our residents, fire victims or not, mostly do not have the means to get by.
Folks can barely pay rent, especially with their rising costs, so they have heavily depended upon these community hubs to provide for them for the past five months. Relationships have been developed and they have always kept an eye on the mental health of their communities (which I write in plural because each neighborhood has different needs and have always been serviced in different ways). For a long time now, the hubs have worked together to track data, including eliminating visits from those who were not from Lahaina or by multiple people from the same household, which the Kahana distribution cannot do since they do not track address data or names. For this reason, we cannot truly know how the data compares.
I have pointed out that the Kahana distribution isn't open every day, and was told by someone in the mayor's office that the food pantries are there to fill the gaps. (From my experience, the food pantries have been vastly unprepared for anything since the early days after the fire.) Problem is, people work. They need a distribution center that is open every day, especially if that is their only option on west Maui. We still have limited public transportation, and many do not have another way to get to the distribution center in Kahana.
These hubs have never shown interest in combining together, as they are spread out the way that they are in order to service specific areas of west Maui. I would urge anyone and everyone to spend a day at these hubs to see the kind of work that they put in. I asked my friend who is one of those who runs the Kahana distribution center to give me a run down today because I'd love to tell my friends at the hubs that they have nothing to worry about.. he thinks they're still running these hubs because they love it. I don't think anyone understands the mental, physical, or financial toll that the folks dedicated to running these hubs have taken on.
They are there because their communities have repeatedly stated that they cannot get what they need at Kahana... This model is based on what we were encouraging during the WMCA days - basic necessities. The problem is, folks need more than that. The cost of living is getting out of control and they have no financial support. Even with jobs. Sure, some do! TANF funds, EBT, SNAP, etc. But you've all bought groceries out here. Having the ability to get toiletries and household supplies is something that they truly need. These hub leaders are very good at distinguishing who is really "in need," but they run entirely off of mostly private donations.
I was able to learn a bit about how they make purchases for GEM and why they get the products that they do, so I get that you can't just have spam all the time. But not everyone understands that. And now we're back to one of the common themes of the past five months... lack of communication. People feel as though the government doesn't care about them, and that is fact to them. I've worked closely with many people in our local, state, and federal government throughout this disaster - I know that that's (mostly) untrue! But our leaders failing to show up to these hubs has cemented these thoughts. Hub leaders are frustrated that no one understands how great the need is on west Maui. And it's not just about these hubs.
Lahaina Strong is right - the solution is obvious. We should be using unpermitted STRs operating legally under a loophole to house our people. Those used to be homes, but now they're investments. One thing that seems to have gotten lost, however, is that investment is inherently tied to RISK. Sometimes an asset becomes a liability. Our people can not afford to live on west Maui, and it's time that we stop bowing to private interests. It's long past time to put people before profit. Especially seeing as these STR profits rarely stay within the shores of pae 'aina. These folks can't wait until the legislation that the Governor is talking about bringing this session - nor should they trust his word after being repeatedly let down by him for these past five months. He has made many empty promises, and our community is restless. I hope that each of you will consider requesting him to genuinely reconsider Lahaina Strong's request.
Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony. I hope that you will consider working with these community hubs to ensure that the community wins. I certainly understand that the county does not have the financial means to support them, but the least they can do is provide rubbish bins and pick up the trash from the parks. The rubbish bins that are currently in use at Pohaku Park were all provided personally by members of the community, and the trash does not get picked up regularly.
I support supporting the community HUBS as they have been the Pillars of the disaster relief. When the people needed food water medical supplies and hugs, anything we could think they may need to move forward had been supplied by community to community. This is where healing and trauma relief begins. Having a sense of community and unity In the struggle. When you close our hubs, you cut off the connection to people and resources that our Lahaina community needs desperately. It’s not life goes on as normal over here, as in other parts of the island. People need to recognize that.
I have been working closely with many of the hubs since the early days of the fire. I worked with West Maui Community Aid, and I understood that the mission was always to get these hubs to shift towards "basic necessities." That has never happened, but west Maui also has never had the means to support folks in the way that they need. Our residents, fire victims or not, mostly do not have the means to get by.
Folks can barely pay rent, especially with their rising costs, so they have heavily depended upon these community hubs to provide for them for the past five months. Relationships have been developed and they have always kept an eye on the mental health of their communities (which I write in plural because each neighborhood has different needs and have always been serviced in different ways). For a long time now, the hubs have worked together to track data, including eliminating visits from those who were not from Lahaina or by multiple people from the same household, which the Kahana distribution cannot do since they do not track address data or names. For this reason, we cannot truly know how the data compares.
I have pointed out that the Kahana distribution isn't open every day, and was told by someone in the mayor's office that the food pantries are there to fill the gaps. (From my experience, the food pantries have been vastly unprepared for anything since the early days after the fire.) Problem is, people work. They need a distribution center that is open every day, especially if that is their only option on west Maui. We still have limited public transportation, and many do not have another way to get to the distribution center in Kahana.
These hubs have never shown interest in combining together, as they are spread out the way that they are in order to service specific areas of west Maui. I would urge anyone and everyone to spend a day at these hubs to see the kind of work that they put in. I asked my friend who is one of those who runs the Kahana distribution center to give me a run down today because I'd love to tell my friends at the hubs that they have nothing to worry about.. he thinks they're still running these hubs because they love it. I don't think anyone understands the mental, physical, or financial toll that the folks dedicated to running these hubs have taken on.
They are there because their communities have repeatedly stated that they cannot get what they need at Kahana... This model is based on what we were encouraging during the WMCA days - basic necessities. The problem is, folks need more than that. The cost of living is getting out of control and they have no financial support. Even with jobs. Sure, some do! TANF funds, EBT, SNAP, etc. But you've all bought groceries out here. Having the ability to get toiletries and household supplies is something that they truly need. These hub leaders are very good at distinguishing who is really "in need," but they run entirely off of mostly private donations.
I was able to learn a bit about how they make purchases for GEM and why they get the products that they do, so I get that you can't just have spam all the time. But not everyone understands that. And now we're back to one of the common themes of the past five months... lack of communication. People feel as though the government doesn't care about them, and that is fact to them. I've worked closely with many people in our local, state, and federal government throughout this disaster - I know that that's (mostly) untrue! But our leaders failing to show up to these hubs has cemented these thoughts. Hub leaders are frustrated that no one understands how great the need is on west Maui. And it's not just about these hubs.
Lahaina Strong is right - the solution is obvious. We should be using unpermitted STRs operating legally under a loophole to house our people. Those used to be homes, but now they're investments. One thing that seems to have gotten lost, however, is that investment is inherently tied to RISK. Sometimes an asset becomes a liability. Our people can not afford to live on west Maui, and it's time that we stop bowing to private interests. It's long past time to put people before profit. Especially seeing as these STR profits rarely stay within the shores of pae 'aina. These folks can't wait until the legislation that the Governor is talking about bringing this session - nor should they trust his word after being repeatedly let down by him for these past five months. He has made many empty promises, and our community is restless. I hope that each of you will consider requesting him to genuinely reconsider Lahaina Strong's request.
Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony. I hope that you will consider working with these community hubs to ensure that the community wins. I certainly understand that the county does not have the financial means to support them, but the least they can do is provide rubbish bins and pick up the trash from the parks. The rubbish bins that are currently in use at Pohaku Park were all provided personally by members of the community, and the trash does not get picked up regularly.