The leader of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement reflects on a year since the Lahaina fire
In the year since the Lahaina fires on Maui, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement has helped more than 6,000 families through a robust recovery project
KAHULUI, Hawaii — On a Monday morning in July, 11 months after the devastating Lahaina fires, the Kako’o Maui Resource Center was still busy.
Sunlight poured through big windows. A young man with a white flower tucked behind his ear sat behind a desk near the door, smiling as he greeted visitors. Hawaiian music played overhead, and a television screen looped images of colorful hibiscus and bright beaches. Two men were “talking story” in the waiting area, trading stories of what they each lost in the fire, as they waited their turn to receive the essential services offered here.
This converted storefront inside a Kahului strip mall is the hub of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, or CNHA, a 23-year-old organization that has become a crucial leader in Maui’s recovery from the devastating fires that killed at least 102 people and displaced 12,000.
The center is divided into stations that address various needs: housing, financial assistance and mental health support. There are FEMA and Red Cross tables, but everything that happens here is led by locals. The staff themselves are Lahaina survivors, some of whom lost their own homes.
“We created this center as a way to culturally approach the disaster recovery,” said Kuhio Lewis, the council’s CEO. “The concept here is come in, feel the spirit of aloha, see somebody that you’re familiar with, so we can help you through the process.”
More than 6,000 families have been helped at the center, but this is only one piece of CNHA’s robust recovery project. It financially supports families who take in displaced loved
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