Member leaders step up to serve community that’s in ‘utter trauma and ruin’
Posted: August 25, 2023
In the wake of deadly wildfires that destroyed Lahaina town and shook a community to its core, the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association’s staff and members are working together through a series of coordinated efforts to help teachers who’ve lost everything.
Since the fires broke out the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 8, communication on Maui has been severely hampered by downed utility lines, severed internet and mobile phone service, displaced families, and more.
Over the past two weeks, the HSTA has devoted hours and resources to check on our members’ well-being and needs through multiple means, including surveying via email and text, calling members by phone, asking other faculty to report on the status of colleagues we are unable to reach, and holding in-person meetings to provide what answers and support we can as well as allow our members to simply grieve together.
“HSTA really got involved right away,” said Lisa Morrison, a student activities coordinator at Kūlanihākoʻi High School and HSTA secretary/treasurer. “And I was glad to see the support that immediately emerged from members and board members. We arranged a text messaging to check and see how all of the members on Maui were doing to make sure that we accounted for who might be in need of help, and also wanted to help and have been arranging connecting people in that way.”
Realizing that many people had limited access to digital communications, HSTA to date has held three in-person fire-relief meetings for members to learn more about assistance available to them and provide a space for them to grieve and connect with one another.
Mike Landes, a social studies teacher at Lāhaināluna High School for 20 years and Maui Chapter president, said that his home became a sort of “command and communication center” amidst the tragedy in his community he says is in “utter trauma and ruin.”
“We’ve been working with representatives from each of the schools to try and coordinate information to all of the educators on the that are on the west side currently, to hear from them what they need, and what their concerns are so that we can rail it relay that to folks, but also so that we could then coordinate supplies and coordinate help with caravans together to bring things over,” he said.
The HSTA coordinated several caravans into Lahaina to take food and supplies to those in need, especially when access was severely restricted in the days following the wildfires. The union activated and deployed staff locally and from across the country to assist in our efforts, as well.
Landes noted that the union has brought over legal assistance for members with questions and that “we’re just really just trying to help connect the dots as much as we can for the people who are who have lost everything and who don’t want to leave their community but are sort of in no man’s land with no communication, or very limited communication.”
HSTA issues more than $100K in checks to 100+ teacher fire victims
On the Sunday immediately following the deadly Maui wildfires, the HSTA Board of Directors called an emergency meeting, chiefly to approve allocating $150,000 of financial aid directly to members impacted by the wildfires.
“If a teacher is the one who lost their home, they will be eligible to receive $1,000 upon application and if their classroom was destroyed, then they would be eligible for $500. And if unfortunately, the teacher was someone whose classroom and they’re homeless destroyed they would actually be able to apply for both,” Morrison said.
“We just want to put money in the hands of our members immediately to help them with some of those things they have to take care of. And we’re hoping to be able to do more in the future.”
Landes, who sits on the HSTA Board of Directors, recounts the moment the board approved direct funding to its members on the ground suffering in the wake of the fires.
“There’s been a lot of moments that I’ve been in tears over the past couple weeks, but when the board unanimously approved that, that was one of them,” Landes said,
As of midday Friday, the HSTA had cut more than $102,000 in relief aid checks for more than 100 HSTA members who have been displaced after losing their primary residence or, in the case of those at Kamehameha III Elementary, their classrooms and workspaces.
We are amplifying members’ crowdfunding websites and accepting financial donations on behalf of our members.
Teachers share in responsibility to care for their community
Evelyn Ibonia is a fifth grade teacher at Kīhei Elementary and is starting to have students who were displaced by the wildfires enroll in her class.
“I actually had one that I’ve had there for a couple of days already. And one that was supposed to come today but other reasons, kind of prevented that. So I think she’s starting tomorrow, but it’s just, we’re just finding the kids are so resilient, and they just want to be in school, so we’re just trying to give that to them.”
“Our school community has just been amazing trying to bring in all the kids that enroll with us and trying to welcome them as much as we can. And even though classroom sizes are getting bigger, the kids are happy to be there,” she added.
While navigating her personal classroom and supporting her students, Ibonia pointed to the union as an “amazing” place to receive information and help.
“I personally feel so grateful to have our chapter and just HSTA as a whole. Everyone’s just reaching out asking how they can help. And just having these times for the teachers to come together and ask questions if they have it, it’s amazing.”
Lāhaināluna High English learner inclusion teacher Ashley Olson shared with HSTA that while she hasn’t personally lost a single possession, “My town is gone. We’ve lost students. I’ve lost friends. But the bottom line is, again, there are benefits to membership, but there’s also responsibilities to membership, and I feel like it is my responsibility to do what I can to support those members who have lost something or lost everything.”
Olson says she’s just “doing what I can. And I feel like most people are just doing what they can right now. I have lifelong friendships. I have people that showed up in my house knowing that it’s like, ‘Oh, come in. You don’t know if you still have a home? Come on in. Let’s do what we can to make you comfortable.’
“I mean, I think most people within HSTA given that opportunity would do the exact same thing,” she said.
Initial counts indicate at least 57 Maui educators have either lost their homes entirely in the fires or their homes suffered damage to the extent that they have to temporarily relocate. Another 44 teachers reported property damage from the fires. Since the flames destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary School, all of the teachers there have lost their classrooms and workspaces.