Will Hawkes Maui Fire Recovery

My brother William is in need of help. I am grateful to be his advocate. The desire to awaken in you an awareness of his circumstance and convey what it is for an individual and a community to experience the otherworldliness of fire decimating your city and your home feels like a task I’m not sure how to deliver.

I hope I can stir in you a desire to be a part of the community that William needs, to be a part of the humans who mobilize to help support him in this disaster he is faced with.

I write from a place of knowing what it is to watch the sky change color and form, for there to be no longer any distinction between sky and earth because a fire so massive hides your view where your house and community are supposed to stand. I write from a place of knowing what it is to look at the wall of fire and hope that somehow the torrential fire in front of you has not consumed your home in its powerful and unforgiving path. I write from a place of still being on the road to recovery and knowing I am 5 years ahead of where my brother now is.

Per a phone call from William, we know he is evacuated and safe. His house, everything in it, and a vehicle have been lost to the fire in Lahaina, Maui.

He was called in to work to cover for co-workers who were evacuating. He returned to his house on foot to find only cinderblocks left. The people of Lahaina are enveloped in what seems like a war zone. Our hearts break for the many deaths of those that did not have time to escape the fast-moving fire. These scenes are traumatic and I grieve for all those who are living through and affected by them.

William is grieving and stunned. He is grateful he and his girlfriend are safe. His work family and friends are already reaching out an immediate hand of support as they try to navigate the war zone they are a part of with what they have access to. Being an isolated group of islands in the Pacific and having an economy rooted in tourism, the road to recovery for individuals and the island community will be complex and assuredly lengthy.

William works in the tourism industry in Lahaina and was anticipating starting his final year of school at the University of Hawaii this fall. The details of what is in front of him are unknown. Recovery is remarkably easier from a disaster when a wide network of people show up to offer tangible aid.

When fire comes to your community, you are ruthlessly and unapologetically folded into its transformational power. Fire no doubt brings death marked by all its charred remnants. Fire can also bring robust new life when the conditions are right. Please take a moment to consider helping support William as he moves through this disaster to help facilitate new life that can occur after such an event.

William has his work clothes and social security card. All material possession aside from this was lost in the fire. William has said he is not concerned with the material possessions lost. I know from which place he speaks. When we survive fire with our loved ones by our side, we are only grateful. And yet, he will have needs and impact from the devastation on the island that he cannot foresee.

Your tangible support is your prayers in action.

Fire marked my life in a way that I will likely never be able to fully transcribe to another. I know it will do this for William as well. Please join me in showing him the miracle of humans that care for one another in our greatest moments of vulnerability.

We appreciate the many prayers being offered for William and all those affected.

Thank you for being a part of those that gather round in the time of need. The world is a sweeter more miraculous place because of you.