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Filipino resource fair planned for Sept. 23 at Lahaina Civic Center

By Staff | Sep 8, 2023

LAHAINA — Relief and recovery agencies are sought to participate in a resource fair called “Hawak Kamay” (Hand-in-hand) planned for Saturday, Sept. 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lahaina Civic Center for individuals and families affected by the recent wildfires.

The Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce and Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii are coordinating the effort.

Recognizing the need for familiarity and to build trust for the large Filipino community affected by the wildfires, the purpose of the resource fair is to provide a safe and comfortable venue to give and receive support.

The Philippine Consulate of Honolulu also scheduled an outreach event on Sept. 22-24 at the same venue to replace lost documents such as passports.

If your agency is providing disaster relief services, this is a great opportunity to reach out to the Filipino community. Please sign up at bit.ly/hawakkamay.

“We understand the massive scale of the profound losses our community is going through, so we want to give our best effort to reach out and remind families that we are here for them,” said Dominic Suguitan, president of the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce.

“We also recognize that everyone grieves and heals at a different pace, so we want to ready our network of agencies to assist in the long-term recovery process.”

The Maui Filipino Chamber set up a Bayanihan Fund to receive donations to support resilience and recovery from the Maui wildfires. Many from the global Filipino community have also sent their aloha, including the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, Asia America Initiative, Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce, SoCal Filipinos and Filipino Young Leaders Program, among many generous donors.

The Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii has also set up a Kokua Maui coalition of organizations to support the Filipino Resource Fair efforts, and includes initiatives from the Hawaii Philippines Business and Economic Council, Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii, Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce, West Hawaii Filipino Chamber of Commerce, Filipino Chamber of Commerce Big Island, Filipino Jaycees of Honolulu, UP Alumni Association of Hawaii and Filipino Association of University Women.

If your organization would like to be included in the list of partners, please sign up. Contact Kit Furukawa at (808) 291-9407 for questions.