The Dr. Bobby and Julie Baker Basis has offered free laptop computer computer systems to seven completed Maui County highschool college students. Many of the college students had been straight or not directly impacted by the Maui wildfires on Aug. 8.
Laptop awardees embody:
- Greenlee Evonuk of King Kekaulike Excessive Faculty
- Kona Higbee of King Kekaulike Excessive Faculty
- Elena Javier of King Kekaulike Excessive Faculty
- Kawailani Kaonohi Ah Bathroom of Kūlanihākoi Excessive Faculty
- Hunter Meyer-Horsman of King Kekaulike Excessive Faculty
- Nohealani Pulawa of Baldwin Excessive Faculty
- Cecelia Steiner of Kūlanihākoi Excessive Faculty
Cecelia Steiner, a senior previously at Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty, misplaced her household house and a car to the Lahaina wildfire.
“We misplaced all the things and are utilizing our cash for requirements,” she stated. “My household doesn’t have spare cash to purchase me a laptop computer for college. My entire city acquired burnt down, together with hundreds of different households.”
She and her Lahainaluna classmates have relocated, not less than briefly, to the brand new Kūlanihākoʻi Excessive Faculty in Kīhei.
Steiner expressed gratitude for the outpouring of group help, together with the Baker Basis. “It means a lot,” she stated. “There are such a lot of individuals serving to. It’s wonderful to see the help.”
She stated she’s going to use the pc for schoolwork at house and to use for school scholarships. She plans to check psychology at a West Coast college, however she’s undecided on her profession path.
The wildfire expertise confirmed Steiner “what’s actually essential,” and she or he now feels so “grateful for all the things you may have.”
Different college students impacted by the wildfires included Kawailani Kaonohi Ah Bathroom, a former boarder at Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty.
“I felt displaced as a result of I needed to go away a second house of mine that I’ve been in for the final three years,” she stated, including that she is now along with her Lahainaluna household at Kūlanihākoʻi, after briefly attending courses at Baldwin Excessive Faculty. At Kūlanihākoʻi, there “has been such a heat welcoming for all of us.”
Nohealani Pulawa, additionally a former boarder at Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty and now attending Baldwin Excessive Faculty, misplaced lots of her private belongings within the hearth. “After the Lahaina hearth, seeing my entire city being burnt to flames and having to evacuate by means of the smoke with my boarding household, I understand I misplaced rather a lot,” she stated. “With all this surprising tragedies coming my approach, and to lots of all Maui residents, it’s simply inspiring to see the group working collectively and getting by means of it.”
Hunter Meyer-Horsman was raised in Lahaina city and went to King Kamehameha III Elementary Faculty, now destroyed by hearth. His household moved Upcountry throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with his mother, Donna Meyer, “Hunter assisted with aid efforts instantly after the devastation and continues to hunt methods to help the efforts in our beloved Lahaina.”
Kona Higbee donated garments to the Lahaina hearth victims.
Baker stated he was amazed at how lots of the college students who acquired the donated computer systems had been additionally impacted by the wildfires. “It makes me really feel so good to contribute to their lives,” he stated. “This warms my coronary heart past description.”
The computer systems had been offered Friday as a part of the Baker Basis’s Computer systems With A Trigger program on the Pacific Most cancers Institute. Dr. Bobby Baker based the institute in 1993 in Wailuku. Candidates without spending a dime laptops demonstrated their dedication to lecturers, group service and monetary want.
In July, the Baker Basis delivered two laptop computer computer systems to youngsters in Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Useful resource Facilities’ Youngsters Companies Program.
The mission of the Dr. Bobby and Julie Baker Basis is to offer important sources for the well-being of susceptible people, animals and community-based organizations.
Since 2017, the Computer systems With A Trigger initiative has offered over a 100 computer systems, valued at $50,000 to a number of college students, group facilities, and colleges on Maui and in South Carolina. Lots of the computer systems are utilized by a number of college students and their households.
Baker stated, “It’s exhausting to say what number of college students and their members of the family have been affected by certainly one of our computer systems, however it’s protected to say a whole lot.”
