Las Vegas community shows support for Maui residents
LAS VEGAS, Neva. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - The outpouring of love and care continues for the residents of Maui. Many of whom have lost everything but the clothes on their backs, and desperately in need of help.
People from so many places, just looking to help in any way they can. That's the case in Las Vegas, where the community is stepping up in big ways to show their support. Many with special ties and memories to Maui.
Scouts honor taken to another level.
"We want to make sure that they get to get the support and help that they need," said William Rocheleau, Scoutmaster for Boy Scouts of America Troop 130.
Troop 130 was collecting money for survivors of the wildfire in Maui.
"Imagine you wake up tomorrow morning, and there's a fire raging through Fremont Experience, and Fremont is gone. It wouldn't be Las Vegas about Fremont. That's Lahaina to Maui," Rocheleau expressed.
The giving spirit
And the giving spirit in Las Vegas, nicknamed Hawaii's ninth island, is growing.
"I [was] born and raised in Lahaina Town, Maui. I'm from the west side. I'm super far away, so anything I can do to help my community, I want to be able to do," said Jai Alboro, owner of 9th Island Kava Lounge.
Alboro was collecting donations to send back home.
"We are actually taking everything we can they lost everything there. They left with their shoes on their feet and the clothes on their back," Alboro explained.
Personal connection and strong ties
A woman who donated says her personal connection to Maui was her reason for helping saying, "My husband and I spent our honeymoon in at the Royal Lahaina hotel in Maui, and it was magical. As it boils down to, it's just...we do what we can to help."
But a donation volunteer, Noelani Kamalu, has a strong tie to Lahaina. Kamalu left Maui for Las Vegas months ago, with her family still there.
"My immediate family that I have in Lahaina is safe. Fortunately, we found out late on Thursday. But her husband and her dogs, they made it...no power no water, but they're alive," Kamalu shared.
Kamalu decided to do her part and collected donations with the Hawaiian restaurant, Generations Kitchen.
"It wasn't even a second thought, and that's the way it is it back home...One of the big things was the aloha spirit," Kamalu remarked.
Packing up resources, before it's shipped off to what was once paradise.
