Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
Our team has reviewed and discussed @Gerry 's AIP Draft and have sent a list of initial questions. We await answers.
Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
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Aloha All,
I wanted to share a few stories of the families we will be helping.
aloha
my name is jazmĂn and we are in desperate need of help!
we lost everything in our home and watched our car burn down while we were on front st watching our beloved town turn to ashes
me my husband david
and our children ezekiel, kawika, mikaela and kaleb (and 2 cats) were rescued at 3 am from the ocean
this is my husbands cnn interview
please
consider us !
we need help !
Just coming on here to tell my story about the escaping of the Lahaina fires. I woke up on August 8th 2023 at 6:30am in opukea apartment that we just moved into august 1st from Lahaina shark pit. realizing that the electricity went out last night at 3:30am.and The service was really bad. It was almost impossible to contact my family or anything. My fiancĂ© I had to go into work in the morning with the electricity out and everything, leaving my son and I home alone with no electricity and having $700 of food in the fridge that we just got the day before. Looking outside and seeing every hour of those heavy winds get worse and worse through out the whole day. Since I realized the electricity wasnât gonna come back on anytime soon. So I took my one year-old son and I outside to go get some ice at the store. Once we left our place I was dodging the roof shingles that were flying off the roofs with my son in my arms. Decided to go back in my house and stay indoors. It was way too dangerous to leave the house with tree branches flying in the air and other stuff that could hit us.
My best friend calls me about 11:30am telling me that there was a fire pretty close to where I was. But I looked on the reports and say that they were telling everyone that the fire was 100% contained. So While my son was taking his afternoon nap I tried calling my fiancĂ© to see if he was gonna be coming home early or anytime soon since the electricity was out. Still couldnât get a hold of him because of the service. Then at 1:30pm my fiancĂ© walks through the door saying how bad the traffic was and all the power lines were knocked over. So later at like 3 I told my fiancĂ© that I smell fire smoke. Then we look out on our porch to see where the fire was and it looked like it was a little ways from us, so we didnât think that it was gonna come come close to us. Then 30 min later we look again and it was right behind our building! So without any warning or evacuation people coming to assist us, we took matters in our own hands. We packed as much as would could with us looked outside again and our neighborhood was black with smoke.
Seeing that our whole neighborhood was black. I grabbed my son put his face in my shoulder to hide him from the smoke and ran has fast as I could down the stairs because we were on the 3rd floor we couldnât grab much. I put my baby in the car and my fiancĂ© and I took two separate cars that we have. Noticing that my dog ran back upstairs because she was too scared of the wind and smoke I ran back up the building and grabbed her. I put her in the car and we drove out. I had to turn my head lights on to see because it was pitch dark. Once we got out of our neighborhood we were stuck in traffic immediately right by the cannery mall.
Being stuck in traffic when thereâs heavy winds and black smoke and the telephone poles literally looking like theyâre about to fall down on your car was terrifying. Finally we got to the cannery mall, and there was a police officer directing traffic. I roll down my window to ask him if he is going to evacuate my neighborhood, and he told me âyes we are doing it right nowâ. There was no evaluation no one went to our neighborhood to warn anyone. My phone didnât have any evacuation warning on it either. Some people say that they got evacuation warnings on their phone but most never got anything. It took us almost an hour to get out of Lahaina. Around 4:30pm finally being able to drive out of the cannery mall Iâm crying my eyes out just not knowing whatâs gonna happen. I almost crashed twice panicking driving trying to get out of there.
I finally end up in my sister-in-lawâs house in Napili safe. And each hour that passed there was a family coming up and telling us that everything is gone. Then about 7 families showed up not knowing where to go or have there kids to sleep. The next day not having any service and not knowing if anyone of my friends and family made it was absolutely terrifying. But the story can go on and on after words. But that was my whole about the fires.
Aloha my name is Steven I was born on the island of Maui on march 18 1973 I was born in a working class family I was raised by my grandparents which means the world to me. My grandfather was an electrician for the pioneer and my grandmother worked in the hotel industry. My grandfather passed 5 years ago and my grandmother is 90 years old and she does dialysis on August 8 2023 we had to evacuate our family home all 8 of us with what we had. We are displaced on different parts of the island. We still have bills to pay if I get this 10.000 I can give it to my family to help cost of things also they can put some away so we can rebuild our family home. In the fire we lost everything my grandfathers ashes was in the house when the fire destroyed our home. One of my grandfathers wishes was to make sure my grandmother passes the house on to the great grandkids to make sure we got a house for us to go home to also I got an aunt who lived with us who survived a stroke and needs extra cars so please consider me so I can contribute to my family.
Hello, my name is Pedro⊠I am a resident of Lahaina Maui hi⊠it is a bad dream come true what we are experiencing right now, a terrible event that marked our lives forever, plus the people who lost loved ones, I give you My deepest condolences and I wish you strength to move forward with your lives. Fortunately, I feel well as far as possible. I was only close to the fire and a few steps away from it, although I lost my entire home and my jobs were lost in the flames of the fire. Now I am in a hotel in Kanapali by the Red Cross but I donât know how long I will be here. That is my concern and my insertion. I am worried and without work, I donât know what will happen next. In advance, I appreciate any support you can provide us and help us. Itâs my story, thank you very much. Mahalo
*Translated from Spanish
Hello live in Maui Hawaii I donât know if you see the news bud the wildfires burn all the town where I live I loss apartment car everything we loss everything we was fitting for our lives in the water from 5pm to 1:40 am my and my family I was holding my 4 year old the hole time is a miracle we alive my mom and my brother was whit me also can you share my go fund me please 
and if you can help that be awesome god bless you and mahalo. My mom has diabetes and my brother have autism is a miracle we survive. We are so bless if you help us the money we help us get a apartment for rent buy a car and get in our feet than you so much good bless you
Honestly I have lost almost everything, my home, job. Right now Iâm looking everywhere for work but things are just tough right now. We barely made it out. I had only 20 miles to the gallon, and it was major traffic head to Kahului. My main focus if looking for better opportunities and have a better future for my son especially. My son Enrique saw everything and not always but he tends to sleep talk and a of it is about the fire still. This would money would really help, I just want my family to no be worried on where will we be living next. Mahalo!
Aloha,
My name is Justin, I am a life time Lahaina resident, along with my Father Kay, son Phoenix, & mother Nancy. we have lived at our home up Lahainaluna road. our entire lives. My grandmother bought our home in the 1950âs which we have taken care of until this recent disaster struck our community with out warning.
Lahaina is our home, and we could have never imagined that a wild fire would have taken everything in just minutes.
August 8th, the day of the fire we had been up since 4am battling wind while trying to nail down our metal roof on our house from being torn away like so many others had, helping our neighbors move fallen fences off their vehicles, and trying to keep their roofs on as well with winds whipping debris in every direction.
The 1st fire at 5:30am had been deemed 100% contained by 10:30, but at 2:50pm a gust of wind hit Lahainaluna neighborhood so hard estimated 80 mph kicking up all the red dirt in what was once cane fields many years ago, visibility was maybe 20 feet then the smoke got heavy once again. That large gust of wind fueled the fire that had not been contained and traveled a mile a minute down the brush. I got back to my home after checking on others a few streets above to find homes around us had already been on fire.
I grabbed both my parents, son, and 4 of our five dogs (1 dog was at another home being watched by family above the bypass road). We had no time to grab personal belongings, never would we have imagined that would be the last time we would see our beloved home.
Trying to escape via the neighborhood next to Kahoma stream near our residence, we were met with road blocks, and traffic 100+ vehicles deep, black smoke and explosions all around, we thought these maybe our last moments. after 30 minutes of waiting and praying, local neighbors cut the chains off the gate near keawe street to allow vehicles to escape behind Waihikuli neighborhood into Kaanapali hillside before the fire took that WaihikuliâŠ
It felt like 2018 all over againâŠbut knowing our home had been taken indefinitely this time along with so many members of our community, and our entire town⊠had no warning, no cordinated evacuation, no sirens, no electricity, almost no escape. My girlfriend who had been above the bypass at the time made it down the bypass road with our co-worker, once recognizing our vehicle entering the dirt road she took off on foot after seeing us, finally finding out that we had escaped, it was literally a one and a million chance she saw our vehicle with our dogs inside and started to run towards us, our neighbors picked her up in the dirt road until she could be reunited with us once traffic started to slow down. We were all together but still not safeâŠ
we survivedâŠwe have no home to go home to but weâre all togetherâŠ
We will be back to Lahaina one day, we will rebuild our home. I will give everything and more to get our home rebuilt and bring my family home.
- Justin
Multi generational family of Lahaina
BJ, Father of 2 children, working and raising his children on his own since they were born. I lost my leg in a car accident a few years back and I still maintained working to be the best father I can be with the cards Iâve been dealt. Just recently we lost our home in Lahaina, during the Fire that burned down all of Lahaina. Today Iâm humbly asking for help, I have no idea what to do. No one ever expects this kinda stuff to happen, but it has and here I am. STILL tryna be the best provider I have been. We have no clothes or hygienes, no food, no gas and really really, nothing, but whatâs donated through family and friends. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for all your Kokua myself and my children appreciate all, especially prayers. Prayers to the families that didnât make it out.
-Copied from GoFund me
Aloha my name is Roy I am a long time Maui resident of 35 years I have a wife and a child of 8 years old. My son attends Haleakala Waldorf Elementary is a wonderful educational program heâs been attending the school for the last 3 years.
I have been working at fleetwoods on Front Street for the past 2 years my wife is a condo cleaner and vacation rental cleaner we both have been put out of work due to the fires on August 8th my restaurant burned to the ground while she has been put out of work because all the airbnbs vacation rentals and Condominiums are now filled with people who lost their homes and need housing she is a 1099 subcontractor so she is not able to claim unemployment I have received unemployment but it does not cover our monthly expenses and bills
We have applied for food stamps we were denied I have applied for Red Cross I was denied because we were not displaced by the fire I have applied for FEMA we were denied because we were not displaced by the fire.
I am afraid if I do not find help soon there may not be a roof over our heads or I may have to take my son out of his school because the tuition is 1650 a month with car payment insurance rent and everything else we are quickly falling behind.
If we were lucky enough to be chosen for this the money would go to keeping a roof over our head and our son in his school we do not wish to uproot him from his friends and connections heâs made the school has been so beneficial to him we do not want to uproot his life and causes stress to him as possible so we would be paying rent and tuition with this money while we pick up the pieces to our life and careers.
We understand that there are so many people that have lost so much more than us we understand if we are do not receive these funds. Aloha and thank you for your consideration.
Below is our story on August 8th:
We woke up the morning of 8/8 to the power outage and some strong winds. My husband, Zach, wasnât feeling well and so I took my two young children (Waylon-age 2 and Goldie age 1) up to their grandparents home up the hill as usually done during our weekdays. Zach stayed home to rest and recover from being sick. On my drive, we were diverted a few different ways due to downed power lines in different areas. After 25minutes vs our typical 5min drive I got to my in-laws home. Planning to drop them off, I was a bit unsettled with the roads, the wind and the no power. So I stayed to hang out to see if it was worth heading into my office in Kahana. With no power/email/internet service it didnât seem worthy so I waited it out a few more hrs. The wind kept getting stronger and by mid-afternoon I had committed to stay put, hearing more about the roads being closed. It was around 3pm that my MIL and I decided to take the kids for a drive around the neighborhood in hopes to get them down for a nap. That is when we saw a bunch of smoke and the beginning of the dark clouds that got larger on our 30 min drive. We had no power, no sirens, no notifications of a fire in town unless you were outside and could see or smell the smoke.
Around 4:30pm is when I called my husband and said the smoke was coming from a highly occupied area and it looked bad so he should consider coming up to his parentsâ home. He didnât want to get anyone sick but did come up within the next hour. Around that time we had more friends and family show up at their house. The fire had obviously moved quickly and the winds were so strong it was unsafe for the kids to be outside. We heard how bad the traffic was in all areas of Lahaina town and knew things were getting worse not better. At 6pm the fires were out of control and we knew things were really bad but we had no idea people were running for their lives at this point. At 9:45pm we had more friends show up who were in the last condominiums south of our home and we knew the fires had reached our home. We heard the Lahaina Harbor was gone and all the boats were burning. All this information was just unfathomable. We barely slept that night as the fire kept getting closer to our location and at 5:30am on 8/9 we were evacuated and left to Kahului.
On 8/9 a friend sent us a photo of my brothers home engulfed in flames and we knew our home was gone too. We then began to hear all the horror stories and it wasnât until we got back into cell service that we saw the devastation on social media and the news, at that point we grasped the magnitude of what had happened. We are beyond grateful that our family was together and no one was missing. On 8/10 was when my husband and brother headed to Lahaina to see what had happened and shared photos that our beloved town was gone. Heartbreaking beyond belief. Our worlds turned upside down overnight. Everything we owned was gone and our home was leveled. There is no replacing cherished items that were lost. We learned not only was our home gone but along with my brothers home was my momâs home at her apt complex and my fatherâs home on the other side of Lahaina town. We have nothing but the memories now. Our town will be rebuilt and hopefully our homes but nothing will be the same. Our plans, our routines our comforts are forever altered. There is so much uncertainty ahead of us but we have each other. We know some families were not so lucky. We will be ok but right now it still doesnât feel like this is our reality. Getting to some sort of stability in all aspects of our familyâs world is now our highest priority. We donât plan to leave west Maui and will stay put to raise our kids in this beautiful community we get to call home.
We are grateful for any amount of consideration to help our family rebuild from this tragedy.
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Aloha, my name is Rahul Mehra. I am a resident and police officer of Lahaina. I have lived on Maui for 12 years and served the community for 12 years as well. My fiancé, Meagin Smuck has lived and worked as a hairdresser in lahaina for 21 years. We loved our little town of lahaina and felt so lucky to be able to live here, own a home here, and raise our sons here.
On august 8th, 2023 our beautiful life as we knew it had changed forever. We woke up in the morning to pretty severe gusts of wind and no power. We soon received texts from both sons schools saying they were canceled due to no power and high winds. We had solar at our house so at the time we had no idea the town had already been out of power for a few hours. We all just hung out at home watching the wind continue to get more and more violent. Our papaya trees had snapped in half and our plants and trees were flying around everywhere in the backyard.
We then heard that there was a brush fire up lahaina Luna. I remember thinking, âohh no this is not good with these winds.â But my next thought was, âbut the firefighters always gain control and put them out.â The winds picked up and the smoke became very thick and black. We watched it for about 15 minutes till I noticed it seemed like it was getting very close.
At this point we became a bit worried. I went to grab my police radio and turned it on to see what the other police officers working were saying. Right then I realized, this is serious.
I knew right then I had to evacuate my family, get them to safety, then go to work and help out in any way I could. We packed a quick bag, leaving everything behind but a change of clothes. Loaded the kids in the car and got out. As we were driving out, i could barely see due to all the smoke. Our neighborhood was gridlocked with cars because everyone was trying to leave at the same time. I led my family to safety and I went back to town to work and help others in need. By the time I went back, about 25 minutes later, I noticed our roof was already engulfed in flames. I ran back in to try and save my sons keepsakes but as I went through the door , the top story had collapsed. I grabbed a few family photos and stood out front and watched my own house burn down. I worked tirelessly all night evacuating and saving people from getting trapped in the flames. Everyone did the best they could but unfortunately the winds were so high the fire was just too out of control.
We lost everything. Our home, our sons school, and our youngest sons childcare. Our life had changed forever.
We would be so honored, grateful, and eternally thankful to receive this donation. We have a long road ahead to rebuild and replenish all that we have lost. We are faced with having to pay our mortgage for the house that burnt and rent somewhere else while we wait for our house to be rebuilt. This is going to be very difficult to make ends meet with everything that needs to be replaced, paying our mortgage, and paying rent. We would use this money to help with these expenses to help lessen the stress and just be happy and present for my family. Thank you for considering us and have a very blessed day, aloha!
The Mehraâs.
Aloha,
Mahalo for taking the time to read our story. On August 8th, my morning had started off navigating the fallen power lines and the aftermath of the morning fire up Lahainaluna to get to Kahului to pick up my brother who was coming to visit. The wind alone had made that one of the scariest drives Iâve ever endured in my life up to that point; multiple water spouts and wind patterns in the water Iâd never seen before. By the time we had returned to Lahaina, there were more power lines down, the wind was atrocious; we had even watched someones fencing uproot and blow away while waiting to turn into the cannery mall parking lot.
When we got home my wife, Alison, was about to leave to go to work for a friend when we smelled smoke. She was just going across Lahaina but I told her she should wait because the smell of smoke had quickly become a visible plume as seen from our backyard. She was a little nervous but was still keeping together so I asked my brother to hang out with my 7 year old daughter, Nova, while I packed the car with some water and a bag of canned food, you know, just in case. While doing this I saw numerous neighbors with packed cars driving away and other neighbors concluding that we should all probably head out. At this point the smoke had gone from gray to dark black and my wife and I decided, we got to get out of here. At this point we hastily packed our bags, let our daughter grab her essentials (which ended up being her three most important stuffed dolls and a 4 foot teddybear, and in hindsight, I couldnât be happier that she had grabbed what she grabbed to get her through the scary part and the weeks to come).
Alison jumped in one of our cars with Nova while I grabbed our cat and sent them up north. We had already decided to meet at our friends house, which was important because cell service was little to nothing. I then ran into our neighbors house and grabbed their two cats and threw them in the car I was driving with my brother. This was about 4:30pm. We had decided to go across the street to my sister-in-laws house and grab her truck since she was out of town. If I had known then what I know now we would have never gone to get that truck. It ended up fine, but at the exact same time we were driving to my sister-in-laws house, we later found out that friends of ours who were about a block away from us were evacuating their car and jumping into the ocean with their four children where they would spend the next ten hours!
In our neighborhood, it was gray with smoke blowing through, but when we crossed the street (Kenui) to my sisters neighborhood (the cars turning onto Front St. were already backed up and gridlocked to where we were) it was pitch black with smoke. The cars let us cut through them to get across Kenui because nobody was headed that direction. After struggling to find the keys and checking on her neighbors we turned around, my brother in my sister-in-laws truck, and when we got back to Kenui, the same car that let us through was still there; they hadnât moved an inch. It was getting darker with smoke so we decided to cut back across Kenui, in front of the same car as before, and tried to exit to Front St. through my neighborhood. We took the most direct route to get towards Front St. but a giant tree had fallen down and one of my neighbors was preventing cars from driving on his lawn to get around the tree. This was frustrating but there wasnât time to sit and argue (the wind was blowing to loud to have anything but a face to face conversation anyway). Luckily there was another loop to take in the neighborhood to get to the other side of the fallen tree and exit onto Front St.
Another hindsight here, but thank goodness my neighbor turned us around. While driving the last route I would have ever planned on driving, I saw a woman walking and when I got closer I saw it was one our very best friends, Amie! I yelled at her, saw tears rolling down her face, and then absolute happiness and relief to see it was someone she knew. Apparently, Amie had stopped at Safeway on her way home (Launiapoko, on the other side of Lahaina) and could no longer make her way South because the fire had grown into a wall of flames and black smoke, cutting Lahaina in half. Her car was stuck in traffic on Kenui and she was getting smoked out so she pulled to the side of the road, parked her car and made her way to our place to evacuate with us. Since cell service was minimal, we didnât know any of this so by the time she got to our house we had already evacuated. She freaked out and had decided to walk to baby beach to wait out the fire. We all found out later that many of the homes on Baby Beach caught fire and there was little to no beach because it was high tide all through the afternoon and night. Amie is not a good swimmer, so again, thank goodness the series of events that afternoon took us to that part of the neighborhood because if Amie had ended up at the beach, it could have been absolutely awful.
Once I got Amie in the car, my brother still behind me, we were able to make it to Front St., and where we were, cars were letting us merge into the northbound lane and traffic was moving, albeit, very slowly. I started to feel a little bit of relief, as if the immediate danger was behind us, but after a few moments a couple cars started to try and pass everyone in the empty southbound lane. This didnât seem very pono but I noticed that the drivers were pointing up at the power lines. One of the poles had broken and the top part of the power line was hanging over the northbound lane of Front St., with its only support being the other upright power lines that were being tested by the relentless winds. And looking ahead there were at least two more broken or almost broken poles threatening to fall and gridlock Front St. which at this point, was the singular way out of north Lahaina. That bit of relief turned into a very stressful, 25 minute crawl, to the end of Front St. where we were able to turn north on the highway. I thought the relief would come at this point, but traffic was still backed up on the highway where we continued to crawl single file. Why!? Because further up the highway a telephone pole had fallen onto a truck and completely blocked the northbound lanes of traffic. Another stressful 20 minutes, driving around potential fall areas of the upright power lines and we were able to make it in the clear and proceed up north to our friends house for the night.
From our friends house in Napili, we could see the black cloud of smoke in Lahaina throughout the evening, and then the glow of orange throughout the night. Because there was no power, we had to sleep with windows open all night because it was so hot, and every gust of wind was like a gut punch, knowing that it was just fanning more and more of the fire. Since that night, every gust of wind I hear triggers me a little.
The next day was spent trying to find patches off service to let loved ones know that we were ok. During this time there were reports that our neighborhood had survived the fire. That seemed like a fairy tale and we didnât pay it much mind because the flames and smoke we saw, the winds we heard all night made it seem unlikely that anything had survived. My wife and I decided that the hope of not knowing for the first few days would be more useful than the knowledge that everything was gone, se we didnât go out of our way to seek the truth. I had made contact with a few friends up north during the first few days, so I spent a lot of time shuttling around what little supplies we had and exchanging information with whomever I could.
On the third morning, a friend said their neighbor went down to where we lived to survey the damage and that our neighborhood was âlike, 80% intact.â I knocked on the door and I recognized the man who opened it. I asked him if it was true that he went to our neighborhood and he looked at me with sad eyes and told me that he knew where I lived and that our building wasnât one of the ones that made it. Itâs what we expected but I still had to go and tell my wife and daughter. There was our closure.
The next few weeks would be filled with jumping from supply hub to supply hub to get enough necessities so that we could sit and take a breath for a minute. Every stop became a sad reunion of sorts as everywhere we went, we saw everyone we knew, and everybody had some sort of horrific story of escape , and for those first few days, all good news in regards to the survival of friends and family members. The truly awful news would leak out over the coming weeks. In that and in many regards, we are truly lucky that all we lost was a home.
At this moment, we are fortunate enough to have found a long-term rental, something that cannot be said for a majority of our friends. Of course, that comes with the reality that moving forward on an unknown timeline, we now have to cover the cost of our rental, our mortgage for what is currently a pile of ash, and the sad truth that we, as well as many of our neighbors and friends, are grossly underinsured. It will take some effort, but we will figure out how to make it work, because while ultimat
Aloha,
I am a Single mom of 2 boys who grew up in Lahaina as did I. I lost my job, my home and our dream home that we were building (with no insurance on that) so we also lost my life savings, my family home (moms home) and my ex husbands home. We had no notice as many others did not on August 8th and had to pick up and run and leave everything behind, including their two cats. So my kids have nothing. Just looking to try to rebuild for their futures and provide for them. Any help would be appreciated 
Mahalo,
Stephanie
8/8/23 First off that day was really weird, wait, thatâs back up that night was even strange, I was staying with Chops up in Launiupoko at a friends house, around 230am I couldnât sleep. The wind was blowing so hard it was almost was whistling some thing Iâve never in my 28 years of leaving here on Maui. Usually it rains if we have wind like that with a storm but this one didnât no rain, just really dry wind the night before. Didnât really think anything of it because we didnât get a warning so I wasnât prepared or didnât have anything planned out or packed up ready to go in case we got an evacuated morning. Around 9am I headed home to wahikuli, to check the house and see if my delivery with Flowers that day. Around 1130 I got a phone call that I wasnât going to get a delivery because of the winds and I get my deliveries from the other side of the island so they had canceled. Around 2 oâclock I had a oliver with me at the house in wahikuli. The power was out and some of the trees were blown over. I donât know if for some reason I had a weird feeling because it was really hot and very windy so I headed back up to Launiupoko or Chops was. I drove down front Street all the way to the end of shark pit and got turned around and had to go up towards the bypass, sat in traffic for about an hour and a half to get back to the place which of wouldâve been only seven minutes if there wasnât traffic. I had a weird feeling inside of me the whole time that something just wasnât right, so I was really anxious to get up towards where Chops was. Finally, we got there around 3 oâclock, and I put Oliver down for a nap. I took about an hour and a half nap and walked out on the top of Launiupoko Hill and saw Lahainaluna on fire. It didnât seem like it was too big of a deal at the time but then within minutes, Launiupoko was on fire and all of Front st. I was in total shock, not comprehending what was going on just feeling really scared. I couldnât call any of my roommates to see if anybody was OK at the house in Wahikuli. And see if the house was on fire or not. It was a very unsettling feeling, but like I said, I couldnât comprehend anything until the next day when I got a phone call from my landlord saying that everything burnt down our whole neighborhood our town 
. absolutely devastated as a understatement. Just feeling so empty inside and helpless just like everybody in Lahaina just absolutely mortified. I also on my own company, itâs a lei company thatâs been around a Lahaina for over 50 years. Iâve always worked really hard and finally got a position to own my own company. I felt like my heart ripped out of my chest. Then, thinking of all the people we have lost and grown up with on this island just sent me over the edge. I completely lost it and couldnât stop crying for hours and then I find out that my cat gone which Iâve had him for about seven years. I have a two year-old son, so I had to think quickly about what we were going to do and where we were going to stay. I had made the decision to come to California for the last month looking for housing on Maui looking for something that I can run my business out of but thereâs not a lot of options right now. Housing has been a problem for the last 10 years in Maui and it just breaks my heart because thatâs where I grew up and thatâs where I want to stay, but it seems impossible to do these days with how expensive everything is becoming⊠How the money could help me ? it could Iâd into a two bedroom house so I can put a shed outside to still run my business and be there for my family and stay on my way where my heart will be forever. I love this community so much, and I never want to leave it, home is where the heart is and my heart is a Maui.
On August 8th, 2023, The McGrath family lost their house and all of their belongings to the West Maui Wildfire.
This house fire resulted from the brush fires on the west side of the island of Maui. Winds and brush fires from Hurricane Dora have left thousands devastated and without a place to seek shelter. The McGrath family has served as contributing members of the Lahaina community for 16 years. Garrett is a boat captain operating a ferry to the island of Lanaâi and Aleta is a local business operator in Lahaina. Their daughter (4), and son (2), have lost everything they know.
On August 8th, the fires resulted in The McGrathâs fleeing for their lives, leaving everything except for a few important documents, some snacks for the kids, and the family dog. They drove through heavy smoke, and burning embers to seek safety. Luckily, unlike so many others, they were able to escape to safety.
While Aleta is still working, Garrett has yet to be able to return to work due to lack of childcare, lack of long term housing, and job placement being rerouted to another harbor. He intends to go back to work as soon as possible pending proper childcare.
Although The McGrathâs did have insurance on their home, unfortunately the caps on the insurance will leave them with a large burden to rebuild and replace what they knew as their âhomeâ. Added expenses include rent on top of the mortgage that they still owe, replacing all furniture and clothing and toys, a loan for the solar that they added to the home, which will not be fully covered, and added travel expenses for work that is no longer available where they live, amongst others. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. The assistance will go straight towards getting the McGrathâs back on their feet, caring for the young children, and rebuilding themselves and their home in the wonderful town they call home, Lahaina!
When returning to the place they called home, there were plenty of emotions. Yes, some may say that everything lost was just material. That is technically true, but to stop and think of all the memories, keepsakes, babyâs firsts, and the effort bestowed on creating their dream life on Maui, only the pictures can do justice.
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I can really can get behind this edited version. Amazing. LFG.
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Thanks for the support!
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No, thank you mate for taking the time to add all the details above. 
Iâd like to see this expedited and put up to vote now - so we can get these people, and many more, the help they so desperately need & deserve. 
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
@Gerry has responded to our questions and has provided consent to share them in this forum for the community.
- Could you please provide an alternative method for delivering donations to selected families if the Foundation is unable to set up and operate a Venmo account?
Alternatively, if the Foundation is unable to comply with this request for an exception under the circumstances; we would be ok receiving $APE and working with each family individually to onboard them into either Gemini or Kraken to exchange the $APE.
The ApeCoin DAO disburses funds in ApeCoin, at which stage of the process do you propose the ApeCoin/USD exchange occur?
The author did not answer directly, however, further context can be found in answers #1 and #3.
2b. If the Foundation is unable to facilitate the exchange of ApeCoin for USD, or the use of Venmo, would you be willing to provide an alternative process for the families to receive the funding?
The author did not answer directly, however, further context can be found in answers #1 and #3.
- What is the expected process for the selected âcommunity leadersâ to coordinate the disbursement of funds from the Foundation to the selected families?
Weâre not going to overthink this too much. Weâre working with a local bank, with 5 trusted community leaders + Barry to identify families who, once selected will simply KYC, then receive their gift grant from the Bank either by Venmo ideally, or cashiers check (The Banks suggestion)
- Who are the 5 âidentified community leadersâ? Please include a Team Description section in the proposal and provide the details.
Redacted
- Do you provide consent to share these questions with the community in this forum?
Iâm fine with the answers being published if the names are redacted.
A DAR package is being worked on and upon completion this AIP will move into Administrative Review. Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
We have sent a list of follow up questions to the author.
Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
@Gerry has responded to our questions and has provided consent to share them in this forum for the community.
- As per AIP-121, âIt will be compulsory to provide a description of team members.â Please provide a Team Description and provide the details.
Barry and I are the only âteam membersâ as illustrated in Author Description
- To clarify answers #1 and #3 from the previous round of questions, If the Foundation is unable to set up and operate a Venmo account, will both you and Barry become the direct recipients of the ApeCoin grant and manage disbursements to the affected families?
If the Foundation can not send payments via venmo we will work directly with the Bank of Hawaii to distribute the funds. I will accept the payment and distribute in coordination with the Bank of Hawaii.
- Do you provide consent to share these questions with the community in this forum?
yes
A DAR package is being worked on and upon completion this AIP will move into Administrative Review. Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
We have no further questions for @Gerry . This AIP is now under Administrative Review.
Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
3 Likes
This proposal is live for Snapshot vote at Snapshot. The voting period closes next Wednesday at 9PM EST.
The AIP implementation is administered by the Ape Foundation. Implementation may be immaterially or materially altered to optimize for security, usability, to protect APE holders, and otherwise to effect the intent of the AIP. Any material deviations from an AIP, as initially approved, will be disclosed to the APE holder community.
Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
The voting has closed for this proposal and it has not been approved.
This Topic will be moved to and remain in the Rejected AIPs subcategory.