LAHAINA, Hawaii — Local relief organizations hit the ground in Hawaii to support recovery efforts after deadly wildfires burned through the historic town of Lahaina.
Mercy Chefs, a nonprofit based in Portsmouth, deployed volunteers to the island this week to get food and supplies to victims. As of Saturday, at least 80 people have died, and that number is expected to rise.
According to a post on the organization's Facebook page, volunteers from Citizen Church Maui met with the team to pack hundreds of meals for those in need. The volunteers went to parks and neighborhoods where people lost everything.
One resident, Brad, told Mercy Chefs that he's built dozens of homes and buildings across Lahaina over the 40 years he's lived there, the organization wrote. He told the team he "narrowly escaped the wildfire," and that his truck caught on fire four separate times.
Despite losing his home to the flames, Brad told Mercy Chefs, "it's just stuff. It's family that's important."
Brad shared his truck with Mercy Chefs to help transport meals to those in need, according to the post.
Operation Blessing, a Virginia Beach-based organization, is also assisting with relief efforts.
On Saturday, the senior deployment manager, David Wright, departed to Hawaii to start coordinating logistics to deliver supplies to the disaster zone.
“While a traditional deployment of the U.S. Disaster team and its caravan of heavy equipment is not possible due to the remote island location, Operation Blessing is committed to helping the people of Hawaii through our partner organizations who are on the ground,” said Jeffrey Westling, chief of staff for Operation Blessing, in a news release.
People interested in helping disaster relief efforts can find information both Mercy Chefs and Operation Blessings' websites.