LIHUE — More aid and supplies are getting to flood victims in Wainiha thanks to community support, including Lihue residents and businesses.
Soltren Construction and Ace Hardware joined together to split the cost of desperately needed supplies, including 20, five-gallon canisters of propane, 25 shovels, boxes of trash bags and heavy duty gloves. The donated supplies worth more than $400 were taken to Hanalei to be delivered by boat to cutoff residents.
“We’re getting the stuff to Wainiha by boat, so this way the stuff goes directly to the people that need it the most,” said Soltren Construction co-owner Luis Soltren. “The other families that need help can easily reach it (supplies) by car; these guys are cut off from us.”
After bringing the needed items to a North Shore distribution center, captains like Hanalei Hermosura delivered the goods to the hardest-hit isolated areas. The dedicated volunteers were taking daily boat trips to drop off supplies and then spending the entire day helping to stabilize the area.
Soltren and other volunteers worked to clean up debris and help elderly residents in need. The volunteers helped where they could, mostly by shoveling and clearing mud from houses.
“Kauai people have always come together from Iwa to Iniki and the other storms that we’ve had,” Soltren said. “People come together on Kauai.”
In Hanalei on Thursday, he saw guys working without gloves and gave them gloves. When one guy couldn’t lift a refrigerator, others immediately came to help hoist it into the dumpster.
“You saw every kind of person there from a judge to a police officer to doctors to plumbers to politicians. Every part of society was working hand in hand, and you couldn’t tell who was who,” Soltren said. “You just saw people working together, helping each other.”
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John Steinhorst, reporter, can be reached at 245-0435 or jsteinhorst@thegardenisland.com
