Hurricane Lala Hit Hawaii Island And 365 Hawaii Island Community Fund Sprung Into Action!

On August 15th Hawaii Island was hit by Hurricane Lala which caused damaging flooding and power outages across the island. As the storm cleared, the full scope of the damage became heartbreakingly clear. Roads were washed out, and homes and businesses were left in pieces in Nahalehu, trees fell on power lines in North Kohala, Holualoa and Koloko, leaving them without power, internet and water for days. 

After hearing the calls for assistance, the entire island community has come together to share aloha by donating their time and money to send relief quickly to the hardest hit on the island.

On Friday August 21st, during the weekly Food Truck Friday event in Kailua Kona, our 365 Hawaii Island Community Fund set up tents and encouraged donations. Wee were overwhelmed by how much support we received!  We were able to load SIX TRUCKS worth of hurricane relief items, which amounted to at least $15,000 in food, beverage, and equipment, plus an additional $13,000 in monetary donations. We are continuing to create partnerships in all affected areas to assist residents in need. Please contribute if you would like to continue to help with the relief efforts on the island. You can donate on our website at https://www.365hawaiiislandcommunityfund.org/

And a big shout out to both the Luana Group (On The Rocks Kai’s Eats and Drinks, Huggo’s and Lava Lava Beach Club - Waikoloa) and the IRONMAN Foundation for donating two huge trucks of food! (At least $13,000 between them!)

A huge mahalo also to Halau Ka'eaikahelelani and to our amazing 365 volunteers and board members collecting the food, sorting it, and carrying it to the trucks that took the food directly to the hubs and food bank. It takes a village!!

Those donations, along with all the donations we received, were split between the Hawaii Island Food Basket, Vibrant Hawaii, and direct donations to the residents of Ka'u. (Some even went to help 70 staff members stuck at the Ka’u hospital)

365 Hawaii Island Community Fun is a grassroots organization, and direct, fast action is our goal and we've been killing it! But for long-term relief, we don't have the money or resources to help the displaced with long-term recovery. We will be there for our fellow island residents as we can, forming partnerships and reaching out to the public through social media, so stay tuned for another 365 event to help fill in the gaps.

Some more good news-Mark Benioff of Salesforce, donated over 200 propane tanks to those without power in upper Ka’u as their roads are damaged and they are stuck up there and we just learned on the 24th of August, that federal disaster assistance is available to the state of Hawaii to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Lala from Aug. 14-16, 2026.

If you love this island and its people-help if you can in donations, volunteerism and support. Mahalo