Bay Area fundraisers for Hawaii this week include Musubis for Maui and pet rescues
Musubis for Maui joins the fundraising effort for Hawaii wildfire relief
Fundraising efforts continue to pop-up across the Bay Area to help those affected by the Maui wildfires. The owners of Hawaiian restaurant, Outer Orbit in San Francisco, are volunteering their space for the prep work for a fundraiser slated to take place on Friday on Dolores and 18th streets. Its called Musubis for Maui.
SAN FRANCISCO - All across the Bay Area right now, fundraising efforts are continuing to pop up in the wake of last week’s devastating wildfire in Lahaina. Maui natives Lea Lundblad and Madi McGain have been busy helping prepare hundreds of SPAM musubis for a relief fundraiser in San Francisco on Friday.
"Watching our community on the ground take care of each other, that has been a huge inspiration for us to come here and do something," said Madi McGain, co-organizer of Musubis for Maui.
Their immediate family is safe, but some of their relatives and friends are among the more than 100 who didn’t make it out of Lahaina. For those who did survive, their homes, and businesses are now completely gone. The owners of Hawaiian Restaurant, Outer Orbit in the Mission have volunteered their space for the fundraiser's prep work. The fundraiser is slated to take place on Dolores and 18th streets from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday evening.
Meantime, in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, workers from the International Longshore Union, local 10, have been similarly inspired to do their part.
"A lot of us have a personal connection with Hawaii, some of us have family," said union worker Beau Logo.
All week long, Logo and his team have been filling containers at 400 North Point Street with donations bound for Maui. On Friday they’ll get started on their third.
Volunteers are asking for things like camping supplies, generators, baby supplies and pet food.
Many pets didn’t survive the fires, and others were left badly burned. Some of the pets are now displaced from their homes and headed to area shelters. To make room for them Maui Humane is flying out 60 animals that were already in their shelter before the fires broke out. Marin Humane is among several area shelters busy preparing.
"We’ll be receiving ten dogs, two puppies and 11 kittens, and we’re really excited to welcome them," Lisa Bloch of Marin Humane.
The shelter has made signs welcoming the animals and prepared beds and tunnels for them to play in when they arrive on Friday.
"We’ll also make sure that medically they’re doing OK, and the ones who still need to be spayed or neutered will get that, and then we will find them forever homes," said Bloch.
Marin Humane says they also plan to donate all adoption fees tied to the Maui animals they receive, back to Maui Humane. They’re hoping the dogs and cats will be ready to go up for adoption on Tuesday, but they say that anyone interested should call the shelter before visiting.