Lahaina Wildfire Relief Fund for Susie Richter
Donation protected
My name is Cindy Sugden. I moved to Lahaina, Maui in 2005 and stayed there until I moved off island in March of 2022. My dear friend Susie Richter, originally from Boynton Beach, Florida is one of the first people I met on island and have known for almost 20 years. My first job working at Leilani's on the Beach, I remember a woman coming in to pick up her to-go food at the bar wearing a big fuzzy sweater, and thought that's odd, I wonder what her story is. Not long after Conrad Pasco, a bartender friend of mine told me of a room for rent in Wahikuli neighborhood and gave me a contact number. She worked at Tommy Bahama at the time at Whaler's Village so we met up after work and low and behold Susie was the fuzzy sweater lady! We took a ride in her lifted Toyota to the house and talked story along the way. After she showed me the room, she handed me a Coors Light and the rest is history. I met one of my best friends that day. Susie has lived on island for more than 30 years and truly embodies the Aloha spirit! She paddled for the Lahaina canoe club for 17 years, and is a bad ass steersman and waterman! Some of my most memorable days on Maui for me were us catching a party wave with her out at One Palm or Puamana Beach Park. We have watched countless sunsets together, laughed and cried over the years, and it fills my heart to look back on our friendships journey.
The house on 250 Malanai Street which she rented from Flo and Alma Tabios for decades was filled with Hawaiiana, from paddles to newspaper articles, and artwork reflecting how much she loved her island home. Susie is truly one of the most caring and thoughtful people I know and I am extremely proud to call her my Sistah! She has always been there for me and is my family. I have spent countless holidays, at that house, welcomed friends and family who slept on our couch, and it always still felt like home to me when I would go to visit and spend time out in the beautiful garden she built filled with fruit trees.
Everything she held close from her decades on island were in that house that burned down due to the Lahaina wildfires recently on August 8th. All the photos of her parents that have passed, her One Man Outrigger, all her possessions. As many of my friends and family know, working in the service industry, you work so hard serving others and she did so with pure Aloha and grit to be able to have the life she had built. She was able to get out with the same Toyota Truck that she had when I met her and camped out for days at Airport Beach north of the blaze. She luckily found her three cats huddled in a storm drain a few days after the fire. She currently has temporary housing at the Hyatt, but will need to find permanent housing and replace everyday items. She is safe but needs help starting over just like so many others. The funds collected will be given to her directly to sustain herself during this trying time. The trauma created by this tragic event will last for a long time. Anything that can add comfort will be so healing. I am hoping she will not have to leave the place she has called home for so many years. If you can lend a hand and uplift Susie I would be truly grateful for your Kokua. Love, Cindy.
P.S. Below is a link to a video clip of Susie speaking with Reuters news outlet about her harrowing experience that tragic day.
Organizer and beneficiary
Cindy Sugden
Organizer
Reno, NV
Mary S (Susie) Richter
Beneficiary