Hawaii Community Foundation assists in Kauai Flood Recovery One Year Later: Recovery continues By Billy V | April 12, 2019 at 10:35 AM HST - Updated April 12 at 10:35 AM
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - It's been nearly a year since historic floods devastated Kauai. The Hawaii Community Foundation has been part of the recovery efforts since the beginning. Darcie Yukimura is here to tell us more. Darcie: It’s been nearly one year since the devasting storm and flood hit Kaua’i. How has the Hawai’i Community Foundation been part of the recovery effort there? *Set up the Kaua'i Relief and Recovery Fund within 24 hours to begin accepting charitable gifts. Hundreds of gifts from all over the world came in to support the recovery effort totaling nearly $1.9M. Since then, HCF has distributed 47 grants in total to 26 nonprofits, and we have just delivered the final round of grants. BV: You’re based on Kaua’i, so you’ve seen firsthand, how the community is beginning to recover because of the generosity of others. When you think about the past year, what stands out to you the most? Darcie: HCF had a specific approach to giving out the Kaua’i Releif and Recovery grants, right? Can you tell us about that strategy and why you took that approach? Grants distributed from the Kaua'i Relief and Recovery Fund were categorized based on the following three priority areas.
· Immediate–emergency provision of food, water, shelter, healthcare · Stabilize—help for communities to get back to normal including childcare, reopening of schools, public health information on standing water, assistance with refuse, mold, and debris · Rebuild—repair of homes and facilities
We took this approach because we were on the ground every day, working with the community and local nonprofits and could see how our grants could best move the recovery effort forward.
Our communities on Kaua’i have demonstrated that we are strong and that we will work together to overcome hardships. Thanks to the leadership and responsiveness of the grantees, great strides have been made on the path to recovery, and these efforts were made possible by the generous donors who gave to the Kaua’i Relief and Recovery Fund. People can learn more about HCF’s work at HawaiiCommunityFoundation.org/KauaiRelief Copyright 2019 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.