Letter to Plymouth Meeting from Honolulu Meeting
August 29, 2023
Carolee Duckworth
After Meeting for Worship on August 27, Ben Miller shared with those gathered for worship the situation and aftermath of the devastation on Maui as a result of the fires. Carol asked what we at Plymouth could do to be of assistance, in particular to native Hawaiians who were disproportionately impacted, yet are more difficult to reach out to help because of the disruption of infrastructure and distribution at this most difficult time.
Armelle located the email for Honolulu Friends Meeting (honalulufriendsmeeting@gmail.com) , and I wrote a note to express our concerns. This is the thoughtful response I received back...
From Honolulu Friends Meeting
Aug 29, 2023, 3:21PM (5 days ago)
to Ona, Mary, Bob, Sanford, me, Armelle
Hello Carolee,
Thank you for your concern for Hawaii. It is appreciated.
And thank you so much for your interest in helping those affected by the wildfires in Maui. Below is a distillation of advice from our Peace & Social Concerns Committee, Friends on Maui and a discussion during our Meeting for Business.
Members of the Maui Worship Group named two organizations that are doing good work meeting immediate needs:
They also mentioned that these organizations are already receiving receiving large donations, so over the next few months Maui Friends will be looking to identify any "holes" in the safety net where we could direct donations.
Honolulu Friends decided to do both. We sent an initial donation to HCF and agreed that we would make an additional donation in a few months when additional needs and opportunities are identified.
So, if you want to make a donation now, it would best be sent to one of the organizations mentioned above. And/or you could wait a month or two and then write directly to members of the Maui Worship group for a recommendation for an additional donation.
Here is their contact information:
Bob Kinsey: effortlessnv at gmail dot com
Colleen Wallace: cmauigirl at yahoo dot com
John Murphy: johnpatrick.murphy at yahoo dot com
Mahalo and much aloha from Friends in Hawaii.
Ted
_________
Ted Siedlecki & Aron Teel
Resident Couple
Honolulu Friends Meeting
2426 Oahu Ave, Honolulu HI 96822
808-988-2714
www.hawaiiquaker.org
I attended the 10AM (HST) hybrid Meeting for Worship with Honolulu Meeting on First Day, September 3. With permission from this very welcoming gathering of Friends, I have included a screen capture here so we will have faces to put with Honolulu Friends Meeting. There were 12 or so at the meeting house who are out of view in the picture. One message spoke of the spiritual healing that will be needed in Lahaina in addition to the physical healing.
