Community hub serves as lifeline after Hurricane Lala supplies during recovery
NAʻĀLEHU, Hawaiʻi (HawaiiNewsNow) — A community hub in Naʻālehu provided food, water and supplies to residents in the two weeks following Hurricane Lala.
The Naʻālehu Resilience Hub, based at Naʻālehu Hongwanji Mission, gave away up to 170 meals per day during that period, along with ice, water, canned goods, paper towels and household supplies.
Marcia Masters, team lead at the Naʻālehu Resilience Hub, said volunteers who had never worked together before came together during the response.
“We’ve had an amazing crew of volunteers through all of this, and many people that had never worked together came together,” Masters said.
Supplies shifted as needs changed
Masters said that over the past week, residents primarily needed cleaning supplies, shovels, brooms, and bleach. She added this is the worst storm her community has ever seen.
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“There is no comparison. This was the worst,” Masters said.
Masters said some residents lost their homes when they washed down into the park. She said neighbors had a waterfall that had never been there running through their home and across the street into the churchyard.
“Some of the folks lost their homes. They washed down into the park. Neighbors, they had a waterfall that had never been there running through their home, that ran across the street and into the churchyard,” Masters said.
Community shows resilience
Masters said Kaʻū is showing its strength and resilience despite the devastation and the long road to recovery.
“That the aloha spirit is alive and well in Kaʻū, that Kaʻū still is made of rugged individualists, and that we do learn how, we have learned how to help each other,” Masters said.
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