By Jason Kaneshiro
UH Athletics
A somber homecoming took a group of Maui-raised University of Hawai'i student-athletes back to familiar surroundings but, in many respects, a different world.
Upon arriving at Nāpili Park, Karsyn Pupunu pointed out the diamond where he played his first baseball games as a kid growing up in West Maui.
Childhood memories melded with the current reality a few yards down the hill, where tents and storage containers now occupy a field that serves as a community driven distribution center offering supplies for residents displaced by the wildfires that raged through Lahaina on Aug. 8.
Now a wide receiver with the University of Hawai'i football team, Pupunu and five fellow Maui County products returned to the Valley Isle on Sept. 13 as part of a contingent of close to 50 UH student-athletes and staff members who made a day trip to contribute to relief efforts.
With the
"Maui Strong" message permeating the local consciousness and spreading globally since the fires, the trip provided a reminder of the strength of Maui.
"It's changed a lot in a way," Pupunu said, "but at the same time home is still home.
"The people over here in the community are very strong, very loving, everyone is family oriented and that plays a big role in what we see today and everyone helping out."
UH baseball coach Rich Hill worked with the office of Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke to organize the trip which included members of the baseball, softball and water polo programs. Most of the group took a morning flight to Maui and were later joined by Pupunu and Kimo Holo Holt-Mossman following the Rainbow Warrior football team's practice that morning.
The fires and their aftermath hit particularly close to home for those who grew up in Maui County — baseball players Ben Zeigler-Namoa, Dylan Waite, Levi Maddela and Naighel Ali'i Calderon along with Pupunu and Holt-Mossman.
"Honestly, it means the world," Zeigler-Namoa said of the opportunity to serve in the effort. "Growing up here, being from Lahaina especially and seeing the people impacted, it just means the world.
"It's a great town … and I think all the aloha that the place has given, it's due for some aloha back to it."
After lunch at UH Maui College, the group bused to the Kahului Distribution Center, a former Safeway now serving as a distribution center for food and essentials. The center serves close to 300 families on its distribution days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with prep days on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
After being briefed on the operations, the student-athletes dispersed throughout the facility to assist the volunteers in filling various roles, whether sorting supplies, packing boxes, filling shopping carts or escorting residents to their cars.
"One of (the volunteers) said they had chicken skin," Lt. Gov. Luke said. "They said it was such a morale boost.
"As soon as they got here, they wanted to just work," she said. "So the volunteers who were already here were just so surprised and they were so happy that you had this infusion of volunteers who wanted to help."
"Our whole operation hinges on volunteer help, from our Kakaako warehouse to the Kahului warehouse," said Kāhala Pratt, the director of the Maui Relief Storage Facility. "So having the UH kids come out and see what we are trying to put together is inspiring because I hope they will be the able to be the leaders who can put these things together, who can touch the hearts of the people of their community not only with their talents but just with their compassion."
The bus ride to the island's west side gave most in the group their first in-person glimpse of the aftermath of the fires. The words "Lahaina IS Strong" was painted on the wall next to a tunnel and chit-chat among seatmates went silent as the bus turned toward Honoapi'ilani Highway.
The driver described the "eerie" atmosphere in the days following the fires as the bus passed alongside neighborhoods now in ruin and burned out cars and pointed out the white crosses posted along a fenceline in honor of those lost — including four members of Pupunu's family, an aunt and uncle and two cousins.
"I was actually in Lahaina the day before the fire happened," Maddela, a Baldwin graduate, would say later in the day. "I go to Front Street every single time. … Going out there and helping the community helped me feel much better, but going past all that tragedy is sad to see."
The trip continued on to the Kahana Gateway Distribution Center, another repurposed building where the group again worked with the volunteers in sorting, packing and loading goods into cars going through the drive-thru service.
"We get so many opportunities to represent the islands, so to give back to one of the islands is so important to us," said Lot Stertefeld, a senior from the Netherlands with the Rainbow Wahine water polo team. "I think it's really important for international students who have an opportunity to live in Hawai'i and to live in this community to give back."
The day concluded with the visit to Nāpili Park to meet with members of Nāpili Noho, which runs the "community based emergency distribution hub." Kaipo Kekona, one of the leaders of the initiative, took the group through the center which distributes meals, produce, dry goods, hygiene items and clothing while also providing a gathering place for youth in the community to "keep the kids engaged and smiling."
"To be out here and see everything that they've done is amazing for sure," Pupunu said. "Definitely touching."
The group made the drive back to Kahului Airport to start the return trip to campus knowing the need on Maui continues as will the efforts of those working to support their community.
"It's a two-fold thing," Hill said. "We're going over there to make an impact on the community, to boost any kind of morale, to help in any way with the people who are helping and the residents who've been affected.
"The other side of that is the impact that it has on our student-athletes. Being in higher education, this is just a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to see (the relief efforts) first hand, especially our local kids. They're going to be the leaders in our communities, in our churches, in our schools, in our families.
"There are really no adjectives to describe the vibe on the bus when we passed Lahaina, the vibe at the distribution centers, the park. I'm always amazed at our student-athletes."
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