About Makai Foundation
How We Designed Our Approach To Supporting Our Community
Even when help is needed, how help is delivered can greatly alter the experience of those affected. This is something that Makai has taken very seriously. We considered what was needed, and how to deliver it in a way that is dignified for each and every person involved.
In the wake of the disaster, everyone and their brother wanted to help Maui. We knew that it was important for us to pause and listen for the invitation (kahea). We understood that there would likely be gaps in the system. We chose to observe and identify those gaps in order to ensure that we weren't going in with just best of intentions, we wanted to ensure we had a process in place to effectively catch those who were falling through the cracks in the system. We established early on important values to guide the work we were doing in the community.
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What was core for us was to ensure that we had transparency for our donors. We designed a process to identify people who had unmet needs and who were not being served by other foundations and community hubs. This was an important step to ensure there was no fraud and that each person was vetted properly. This process led to meeting with leaders in the disaster relief arena where we engaged in a collaboration with a trusted community member named Rebekah Uccellini. This choice enabled us to tap into the experience and wisdom of someone deeply steeped in both the disaster-relief space (18 years in disaster relief and 6 years in Fire-relief) who also was connected to the Lahaina community (former Lahaina resident, and teacher at Kamehameha 3 elementary school and Lahainaluna High School).
Rebekah approaches disaster relief from a “regenerative systems-design lens” which leads with intention to use systems thinking to create resilient and equitable systems that integrate the needs of the community. She was deeply committed to supporting the community in their recovery and had been volunteering her time on island August-October around the clock with Maui Rapid Response, Kako’o Maui and she designed the Kīpuka (trauma-informed, land based disaster recovery space held in the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens). We are grateful to have her on board helping to guide our efforts forward and to ensure that donations get to exactly where they are needed most in the community.