Las Vegas Continues to Support Maui Wildfire Victims

Posted on: August 15, 2023, 02:10h. 

Last updated on: August 18, 2023, 09:34h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More

Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Las Vegas restaurants and other organizations are pressing on with their efforts to collect generous donations and assorted supplies for the victims of last week’s Maui wildfire.

Much-needed bottled water, nonperishable food, clothes, diapers, and basic first-aid equipment are among the items being collected so far in Las Vegas for the ravaged island.

At least 99 people died in the Hawaiian tragedy, which is expected to rise as more remains are found. Many hundreds remain missing. Survivors require temporary shelter and supplies after numerous residences in Lahaina were burned to the ground.

2 Scoops Dishes Out Love

2 Scoops of Aloha is owned by Shai Walter, who formerly lived on Oahu, another Hawaiian island, and who noted the number of Hawaiians living in Las Vegas. About 40K Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders reside in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

“It’s a big community,” Walter said. “We want to help out everyone, and I know everyone is here to help out those in need.”

Jeff Medina, who grew up on Maui, and his children dropped off items at 2 Scoops last week.

I’m just happy my family is safe, but it’s still sad that there was a lot of people that got injured,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And when I heard that there was some deaths, that hit me hard.”

Other Las Vegas businesses collecting items are Honors Brand and Generations Kitchen. Many items also were donated at the 9th Island Kava Lounge at 5447 Rainbow Boulevard.

“I’m born and raised in Lahaina town, I’m from the west side, I’m super far away, so anything I can do to help my community, I want to be able to do,” Kava Lounge owner Jai Alboro told Las Vegas TV station KSNV.

Another local resident helping in the relief drive is Nua Agatonu, who grew up on Oahu and who’s a football coach at Liberty High School. He organized a collection of emergency supplies at the school’s parking lot that saw some 400 families drop off items to aid wildfire victims.

Downtown Event

On August 27, Las Vegas’s Downtown Container Park will be the site of another fundraising effort for Maui.

It is called “9th Island Love For Lahaina.” Sponsors include the Las Vegas AAPI Chamber of Commerce and Mahalo-Halo Las Vegas. Hawaiian musicians, artists, and food trucks will be on the scene between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Partial proceeds will go to the Maui Fire Relief Fund, Salvation Army, and the Maui Food Bank.

Las Vegas is home to a large Hawaiian population and we take our designation as the ‘9th Island’ seriously,” Container Park General Manager James Gonzales said in a statement.

Many of the relief supplies collected in Las Vegas are headed to Harry Reid International Airport, where Delta Airlines will fly them to Hawaii.

Delta is also contributing $250K to the American Red Cross for Maui relief efforts.

Boyd Gaming, the California Hotel and Casino (The Cal), and Vacations Hawaii are donating $100K to the American Red Cross effort on Maui. Also helping out are firefighters from Las Vegas and other departments in Clark County, who, along with specially-trained search dogs, left last week for Maui.

Among the buildings destroyed by the wildfire were two Maui hotels, the Plantation Inn and Best Western Pioneer Inn, both in Lahaina.