One year ago, wildfires on the island of Maui claimed more than 100 lives, destroying the historic town of Lahaina and changing thousands of lives forever. Today, driven by the Aloha spirit of the community and the generosity of donors and volunteers, the American Red Cross and its partners have helped the people of Maui with important strides in their path to recovery.
As the extent of the devastation began to surface, the American Red Cross reacted immediately, opening shelters as responders fought to extinguish the fires. Since then, teams of Red Cross disaster workers have:
Provided more than 2.2 million overnight shelter and hotel stays.
Provided more than 3 million meals and snacks.
Distributed approximately $25.1 million in financial assistance to people impacted by the devastating fires.
Reached an estimated 32,750 people with disaster relief and recovery services, including financial assistance.
Helped more than 400 displaced residents who lost their homes but didn’t qualify for federal assistance with free lodging totaling $4.1 million.
One year later, the Red Cross is still working closely with other nonprofits, government and community organizations to help survivors with recovery resources and additional support including grants to local partners with expertise in meeting ongoing critical needs.
“A year later, we’re still there working with partners to help and support survivors,” said Brad Kieserman, vice president, Disaster Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross. “In the months ahead, we’ll continue to stand alongside those partners to help wildfire survivors recover and rebuild their lives.”
ROUND THE CLOCK RESPONSE In the months after these heartbreaking fires, teams of Red Cross disaster workers worked tirelessly to provide survivors with meals and shelter, to help reunite loved ones separated in the fires and provide aid for families who lost loved ones.
More than 6,000 residents couldn’t return home. The Red Cross and the Hawaiian Government realized living in congregate shelters for a prolonged period of time was not ideal and moved displaced residents to area hotels to help them be more comfortable as they planned their next steps. Meals and other essentials were delivered to the hotels and Red Crossers assisted people with health and mental health services, recovery planning, information on services available from partners and much more. Only recently did the last of these survivors find a home and this non-congregate shelter (NCS) program came to a close.
FINANCIAL HELP Cash assistance is an important part of our recovery support. Due to the higher local costs and extreme impact of the fires, the Red Cross quadrupled our standard amount of Immediate Assistance funds to help with buying groceries, replacing lost clothing, paying for transportation and other essentials. We also delivered additional Bridge Recovery Assistance to residents whose homes suffered major damage or were destroyed.
OTHER ASSISTANCE More than 100 lives were lost in the heartbreaking wildfires. The Red Cross increased our fatality-related financial assistance by 150%. In addition, we established a new Family Travel Assistance Program, helping to defray the costs resulting from the fatalities and hospitalizations of loved ones.
We also hired more than 130 local workers, including community members impacted by the fires, resulting in a commitment of more than $8 million in salaries and benefits to individuals and an investment in the local economy. Part of this workforce included support to the state of Hawaii and county of Maui for additional staff members.
Find out more about our response to the Hawaii Wildfires and hear stories from some of the survivors in our One Year Report.
OUR GRATITUDE Thanks to our generous donors, the Red Cross raised $92.8 million designated for our Hawaii Wildfires response— including the value of critical donated goods and services. As of July 8, 2024, the Red Cross has already spent or made commitments to spend approximately $89.5 million on emergency relief and recovery efforts for the Hawaii Wildfires. Any remaining donated funds will be used to provide and support services for both individual and community recovery in the impacted region. The Red Cross will also make an additional investment of $6 million to support critical long-term recovery need.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.
