My Nonprofit Reviews

The wildfires that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina left the community of west
Maui including all the visiting tourists running for safety. My home of over 10 years, car and all our belongings were ravished along with majority of our town.

Electricity was down for over 3 days and WiFi continued to be down for weeks past. Fond my restaurant is located at the Napili Plaza just due north of Lahaina and positioned as an evacuation lot for all to gather. My instinct to supply meals for the displaced ranged from 150-300 servings daily all while electricity was out which led me to cooking in the dark under dangerous conditions. People were homeless and needing immediate sustenance and we played our part to help.

As the week progressed I was blessed with the support of my family and their teenage friends. We worked under harsh conditions, giving away all of our perishable products along with whatever our community needed. Later in the week outside resources finally arrived and necessities were being supplied.

Communication via WiFi was still a problem, but our landlord shared that ITDRC was a non-profit tech group coming in to help get WiFi signals up and going. In our most desperate times needing to call loved ones we were now connected. The opportunity ITDRC gave us was truly our saving light.

Calling family, searching for missing people, contacting insurance and many other important issues were now able to be communicated. The sincere and helpful staff came in and gave us hope. Debbie, Krista and a few others from ITDRC shared with us that they are all here on volunteered time and travel. Their team has been created for such devastating areas like ours to implement these such services.

We shared a meal together, talked story of hope and I will always remember them as our saving angels. Mahalo nui loa in behalf of my Ohana and community for your kokua. Blessed, Jojo Vasquez owner of FOND a neighborhood eatery