Sharing Hawai'i Rotary stories of compassion & service.
Date: August 17, 2023
From Past President Mary Albitz, Rotary Club of Upcountry Maui
Business Owner of Island Art Party | Kihei, Maui
On Friday, August 11, 2023, I got a call from a friend, Rochelle Mendoza, who works at Pacific Media Group. While PMG is not officially a hub of information for this situation, they keep receiving calls asking what to do in x situation. One of the calls that Rochelle received was from a woman who had 2 children in her care that are now orphans due to the fire. Rochelle had no idea what to tell her. She called me as she knows I have been a local foster parent. I told her that I did not know for sure what to do but that I would call some caseworkers that I’ve worked with before. I made a call and fortunately the first person I called answered her phone. She said the process is to call the Intake Worker line at 888-380-3088. The on-call worker will talk with the children and the person who is temporarily caring for them to see if there are family friends or relatives that they might be able to be placed with. If there are family friends or relatives that can take them, then Social Services will give them an emergency foster care license which will then allow them to receive extra services and funding.
Many of us in my club have been stopping in to the Pukalani shelter and asking what they need. I worked the overnight shift between work shifts on Wednesday night. Since then I have not been asked to volunteer but there was a need for Covid tests so we bought and collected Covid tests for the shelter. There has been so much donated there that we haven’t needed to bring anything else.
To learn more about Hawai'i Rotary District 5000's efforts for the Maui Fires Relief, visit RotaryD5000.org/MauiRelief
Have a Rotary story to share? Submit it to PublicImage@RotaryD5000.org