MAINE, USA — Even though Hawaii is thousands of miles away from Maine, people from The Pine Tree State tend to have connections in a lot of places.
At least, that's the case for Heather DiGirolamo of Biddeford. She and her brother, Jonathan Conrad, grew up in Camden, but he moved to Maui 25 years ago and never looked back.
"It’s his family over there," DiGirolamo said. "The locals just embrace you as family, and he has got one big family."
Conrad has been working in the athletics department at Lahainaluna High School for that entire quarter of a century. It's why DiGirolamo said this past week has been tough for him, following the devastating Maui wildfires.
"I think there are a lot of unknowns still," DiGirolamo said. "I don’t know how many people he knows that have passed away, but he basically told me that 80 to 90 percent of the staff and students who go to the school have been affected."
It's why DiGirolamo is trying to spread the word to fellow Mainers about opportunities to help them. She said the high school has the Lahainaluna High School Foundation fund it set up a while back for general improvements, but if you go onto the website and select the "Greatest Need" option, the money will go straight toward helping students and staff as a result of the fire.
DiGirolamo said her parents in Camden are also trying to help by collecting new underwear and sending it to shelters in Maui.
"They’re going to be distributed to the folks that need them because they literally don’t have anything anymore," DiGirolamo said.
Other Mainers are trying to help in a different way. Pete Merritt of Lucerne said his musician friend Rick Glencross (originally from the Bangor area) has been living in Hawaii for years. Merritt said last week, Glencross lost everything except his dog and two guitars in the fire.
"He said everything was just orange. The entire place was on fire. Everything was on fire," Merritt said about what Glencross told him over the phone.
Merritt said he started his first-ever GoFundMe to try to raise money for Glencross, who wants to move back home to Maine.
"To help him get a little cash, to help him get a plane ticket for him and his dog maybe, and to help him get a place here to live and get set back up," Merritt said.
People like Matt Brunk, originally from Limington, and now a pastor at the Haumana Baptist Church in Hawaii, said any kind of support from people helps.
"The past week has been just chaotic, hard to process," Brunk said about what he has witnessed volunteering at shelters and trying to get people what they need.
"The news here has been reporting about 1,400-plus in shelters," Brunk said. "Then, when you talk to people who are volunteering in the shelters – they’re saying there’s a lot more."
There are other, more general ways you can help people in Maui, too. Some other Maine-based efforts include:
- Care team members at Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital donating to any non-profit relief agency of their choice working in Maui.
- "Maui Aloha: The People's Response" through Maine Initiatives.
- "Maui Wildfire Relief" through the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
- The Portland Salvation Army announcing you can text FIRERELIEF to 51555 to donate.