Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Maui wildfires that destroyed much of Lahaina last week. Unfortunately, the needs of pregnant and postpartum people are often overlooked in climate disasters. With Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Breastfeeding Week, we are especially thinking of the pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding parents and families in Lahaina and Maui. We are thankful for organizations stepping up to address the specific needs of parents, families, and children.
If you are able, we urge you to donate to these organizations to support relief efforts:
- Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, a Hawai’i based reproductive health nonprofit, is providing services and sending supplies to folks in Maui. They are taking Haakaa manual breast pumps that can be used without electricity, storage containers and ice packs to store breast milk, and carriers so people can wear their babies. They have also taken donations for baby items, bottles, chest pads, menstrual products, diapers, and formula and bottled water for people who aren’t breastfeeding. They are currently staffed 24/7 in the wake of the Maui wildfires. Donate here
- Pacific Birth Collective: A Maui-based collective dedicated to education, support, and advocacy for birth & wellness choices across Hawai’i that is both helping impacted pregnant people and accepting donations. They are a grass roots, boots on the ground organization based in Maui. All donated funds will go directly to relief efforts. Donate here
- Kalauokekahuli: Provides prenatal and postpartum services to Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. They are currently offering midwifery care, prenatal, birth, and postpartum checkups, and lāʻau lapaʻau consultation to anyone in Lahaina in need of care. Donate here
- Help Maui Rise: To get money right into the pockets of people directly affected by the wildfire, this spreadsheet is updated regularly with information about verified residents of Maui in need of immediate assistance. There are currently almost 600 Maui community members and families on the list, with links to Venmo and GoFundMe pages. Consider scrolling down to the middle and end of the list, to donate to people who aren’t in the first and most visible spots.
- Maui Aloha: The People’s Response Donate to support frontline grassroots heroes mobilizing to mālama ʻohana affected by the wildfires on Maui
- Maui Mutual Aid Fund: This is a citizen-led mutual aid fund that is working to rapidly disperse funds, supplies, and other forms of assistance to people impacted by the fires. The fund will “collect donations, share needs, and kokua’Ohana most in need that wouldn’t otherwise qualify for support or have a hard time accessing it. We do our best to support those affected the most as quickly and directly as possible.”
Additional resources to learn more and how to help:
- https://19thnews.org/2023/08/maui-wildfires-organization-how-to-help-pregnant-and-postpartum-people/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/maui-wildfires-how-to-help/
- https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/maui-hawaii-wildfire-how-to-help-where-to-donate
- Women use jet skis, boats to deliver baby supplies after Maui wildfires