Help for Maui: Spilled Milk #125
The food community is already on the ground alongside first responders. Here's how you can help them.
Days before all the movie stars, famous musicians, sports heroes, NGOs and others started their online appeals, mostly in social media, it was the chef community and other food leaders who FIRST leapt into the fray loudly, often and everywhere. Just like every other disaster, big and small but especially big, it is the culinary family that is on the ground with the first responders.
I am so grateful to everyone’s help as Maui copes with its deadly wildfires, but I find it sickening how many folks took the Maui food community for granted for years, complained about the price of a sandwich post-Covid, complained about the service and so on.
Chefs and their staffs are the lynchpins of their communities 365 days a year regardless of circumstance — so next time you want to lose your temper at a local restaurant, pause and reflect … please.
And here is what is extra special and deserves a mental bookmark: It is chefs, leaders, friends of mine who have supported their communities for years, who when their own businesses and homes burned, stood on corners and fed those in need and fundraised immediately while they were doing it. Just check out Lee Anne Wong’s IG feed and try not to cry and be staggered at her bravery, selflessness and sheer grit.
• Here is her GoFundMe.
• Here is the Maui Chef Club (Chef Hui) donation page:
• And Maui United Way.
There are lots of ways to help. You can also become a sustaining member of World Central Kitchen, which is also on the ground and has been since Day 1.
As I write this I am on a plane, watching John Torpey, who is running WCK’s relied efforts in Maui on MSNBC. The need is huge. So please do what you can.
