Community Resilience • Disaster Response & Recovery • Civic Leadership • Food Security • Community Connection
Building the Relationships That Help Hawaiʻi Island Respond, Recover and Thrive
Vibrant Hawaiʻi believes communities already hold tremendous capacity to solve the challenges that matter most — and that when people are connected, equipped and trusted to act, extraordinary things can happen.
Following Lala, Hawaiʻi Island saw that philosophy put into action.
Within 24 hours of impact, 11 Points of Distribution were operational across Hawaiʻi Island.
Over the following 13 days, that community response network expanded to
24 Points of Distribution and supported 130 distributions islandwide, while nine donation centers helped coordinate supplies according to needs being reported directly from affected communities.
But Vibrant Hawaii’s role extended far beyond distributing supplies.
Through years of investment in community relationships, Resilience Hubs, training, civic action and locally led preparedness, Vibrant Hawaiʻi helped connect an extraordinary network of residents, nonprofits, businesses, volunteers, funders and government partners around a shared purpose:
Take care of Hawaiʻi Island’s people — together.
For Support Local Hawaiʻi, this is what
Emergency Stewardship looks like at scale.
Lala Response: Community Infrastructure Put Into Action
In the days following Lala, communities across Hawaiʻi Island needed food, water, ice, fuel, cleanup assistance, medical support, temporary housing, clothing, animal care and financial assistance.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi helped create a shared picture of those needs through its disaster case management system.
The organization received
2,363 Requests for Assistance representing more than 8,000 people.
Among those represented:
40% were children under age 18.
16% were kūpuna age 65 or older.
16% were Native Hawaiian.
Those requests included:
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- 1,859 requests for food replacement
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- 611 pet- and animal-related needs
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- 494 replacement-clothing needs
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- 295 requests for chainsaw assistance
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- 117 requests for medical support
Each request represented a person, an ʻohana or a household navigating the aftermath of the storm.
By bringing those needs into a coordinated system, Vibrant Hawaiʻi and its partners could begin connecting the right resources with the right communities.
Moving Resources Where Communities Needed Them
Across the coordinated response network, an extraordinary volume of essential supplies moved into Hawaiʻi Island communities.
Together, the network distributed:
77,320 pounds of ice
10,531 cases of water
2,492 cases of humanitarian daily rations
837 gallons of propane
2,835 gallons of gasoline
8,000 pounds of food supplies for people and pets
Behind every number were community hubs, volunteers, businesses, nonprofits, donors and neighbors doing their part.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi helped connect those individual acts into a larger response.
$443,800 Directly Into the Hands of ʻOhana
Emergency relief isn’t only about supplies.
Sometimes the most effective form of assistance is giving families the ability to determine what they need most.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi distributed
$443,800 in immediate cash assistance to 1,757 households following Lala.
The organization also distributed
$15,000 in Goodwill vouchers to help residents replace clothing.
That direct assistance gave households flexibility and dignity during a period when families were navigating circumstances unique to their own homes and lives.
Connecting Needs With Organizations Ready to Help
One of the most powerful aspects of Vibrant Hawaii’s response was not attempting to do everything itself.
Instead, needs were connected with organizations equipped to respond.
World Central Kitchen provided 46,663 meals.
Kaukau 4 Keiki partners in Kaʻū provided another 6,500 meals for keiki.
More than
100 medical referrals were directed to Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies.
Hawaii Animal Kuleana Alliance accepted 448 pet-related referrals, supported in part by a $10,000 grant from Vibrant Hawaiʻi.
Nearly
500 cleanup-kit referrals were coordinated with The Salvation Army, including $50,000 in support from Vibrant Hawaiʻi.
Catholic Charities helped address requests for temporary housing through its Airbnb program.
The Laundry Nook washed storm-damaged clothing for community members.
Across Hawaiʻi Island, organizations brought different capabilities to the table.
The result was not one organization responding to a disaster.
It was a community responding together.
Prepared Before the Emergency
Perhaps one of the most important parts of Vibrant Hawaii’s Lala story happened before the storm ever arrived.
The organization had already been investing in community-based preparedness.
Residents had been trained.
Resilience Hubs had been developed.
Relationships had been established.
Local response capacity was being strengthened.
When Lala impacted Hawaiʻi Island, those investments became immediate response assets.
Community chainsaw teams activated following the storm, including teams associated with:
Kohala Resilience Hub
Hui Aloha Kīholo
Pāhoa Resilience Hub
Hawaiian Acres Resilience Hub
Volcano Emergency Response Team
Team Rubicon
People didn’t have to begin building relationships after disaster struck.
The relationships were already there.
People didn’t have to begin asking who in the community possessed particular skills.
People had already been trained.
That distinction matters.
Because true resilience doesn’t begin when the emergency does.
Resilience is built beforehand.
Resourcing Grassroots Action
Hundreds of community volunteers activated following Lala.
And many of the most effective responses came from people closest to the communities experiencing the need.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi supported those efforts through its existing civic grant initiative.
Over a two-week period following Lala,
45 grant requests totaling $29,300 were funded, putting flexible resources behind community-led action.
That approach reflects something deeply important about Vibrant Hawaii’s work:
Community members aren’t simply recipients of help.
They are part of the solution.
When people have relationships, resources and opportunities to act, local knowledge becomes local capacity.
And local capacity becomes resilience.
From Emergency Response to Recovery
The work does not end when distribution sites close.
Recovery brings a different set of challenges.
Families may need help navigating insurance claims.
Residents may need replacement documents.
Homes may require repairs.
Farmers and ranchers may need assistance recovering losses.
Families may need continued financial, housing or health support.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi and its partners are helping Hawaiʻi Island move from immediate response into recovery by connecting residents with community resource centers, nonprofit partners and assistance tailored to the needs emerging after the storm.
The needs change.
The relationships remain.
Why Support Local Hawaiʻi Recognizes Vibrant Hawaiʻi
Support Local Hawaiʻi created Emergency Stewardship to shine a light on the people and organizations whose actions help Hawaiʻi prepare, respond, recover and become stronger.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi embodies that idea.
Not because one organization did everything.
Because they helped make it possible for many organizations and communities to do something.
They invested in preparedness before the storm.
They helped communities understand where needs existed.
They moved resources.
They provided direct financial assistance.
They funded grassroots action.
They connected specialized organizations with specialized needs.
They supported volunteers.
They strengthened community-led response.
And throughout it all, they demonstrated something Hawaiʻi understands deeply:
Our strength lives in our relationships with one another.
For its extraordinary leadership, preparation, coordination and service following Lala — and for its continuing investment in Hawaiʻi Island’s capacity to care for itself — Support Local Hawaiʻi is honored to recognize
Vibrant Hawaiʻi as a Diamond Emergency Steward.
Emergency Stewardship Impact
Lala Response & Recovery
24 Points of Distribution across the response network
130 community distributions
9 coordinated donation centers
2,363 Requests for Assistance
8,000+ people represented through those requests
$443,800 in immediate cash assistance
1,757 households receiving direct cash assistance
$15,000 in replacement-clothing vouchers
45 grassroots grant requests funded
$29,300 invested through those civic grants
Alongside a community network that distributed tens of thousands of cases of water, more than 77,000 pounds of ice, food, fuel, propane and emergency supplies across Hawaiʻi Island.
A Network Powered by Aloha
No emergency response of this scale belongs to a single organization.
It belongs to the community.
Vibrant Hawaii’s Lala response has involved an extraordinary network of Resilience Hubs, nonprofits, businesses, government partners, foundations, donors and volunteers.
More than 2,000 individuals also personally donated to help sustain the response.
Each contribution became part of something larger.
A case of water.
A meal.
A chainsaw.
A truck.
A grant.
A volunteer shift.
A financial contribution.
A community hub opening its doors.
A neighbor checking on another neighbor.
This is how resilience becomes real.
From Aloha in Action to a More Resilient Hawaiʻi
Emergency Stewardship is not only about recognizing what happens after disaster.
It is about recognizing the work that makes response possible before disaster arrives.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi demonstrates what can happen when communities invest in relationships, preparedness, local leadership and the ability of residents to take action.
Their response to Lala offers a lesson worth carrying forward:
Prepare together.
Connect before the crisis.
Trust community knowledge.
Resource people closest to the need.
And when the moment comes, act together.
Mahalo nui loa to Vibrant Hawaiʻi, its staff, Resilience Hubs, community partners, donors, volunteers and every person who stepped forward to serve Hawaiʻi Island.
This is community caring for community.
This is Aloha in action.
This is Emergency Stewardship.
Connect With Vibrant Hawaiʻi
Organization: Vibrant Hawaiʻi
Organization Type: 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Service Area: Hawaiʻi Island
Based In: Hilo, Hawaiʻi
Stewardship Areas: Community Resilience • Emergency Preparedness • Disaster Response & Recovery • Civic Engagement • Food Security • Youth Leadership • Community Capacity Building
Emergency Response: Lala Response & Recovery
Support Local Hawaiʻi Recognition: ♦
Diamond Emergency Steward
Support Vibrant Hawaii’s ongoing work strengthening locally led action, community resilience and Lala recovery across Hawaiʻi Island.
