LAHAINA, Maui – When Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief teams deploy to a disaster, it’s all about providing help, hope and healing. In most cases, it means helping families prepare to recover by cutting trees off of buildings or cleaning up after a flood so they can get on with their lives. Unfortunately, the situation is much different after a fire.
“In that situation, we are helping a family grieve the loss of everything they own, often including their home,” related Richard Brummitt, member of Northland Baptist Church in Kansas City and leader of the second team to Hawaii in December. “Hurricanes may blow away some homes, but wildfires destroy everything in their path.”
That was certainly the case in 2023 following the massive wildfire that swept through the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui and destroyed more than 3,000 structures … most of them houses. To make matters worse, Brummitt said that homeowners were prohibited from entering their property until the zone was cleared for their address by the EPA. Only then were the MODR teams allowed to enter, as well, and help with personal property recovery by sifting through the ash.
However, the Hawaii Disaster Relief Director emphasized as part of their orientation that the teams’ primary assignment was to minister to the people by listening to their stories, encouraging them and loving them. Digging and sifting for valuables and keepsakes was their secondary function.
Missouri DR volunteers search for treasured heirlooms as they sift through the wreckage left behind by wildfires in Maui.
“One day we helped a son and daughter search the home that their father built in 1982,” Brummitt commented. “The son was almost overwhelmed by the loss when they first saw the site. His wife and sister wanted to search for a few specific items that might possibly have survived the fire. In the meantime, we donned our full personal protective equipment, set up sifting stations and began the tedious process of looking for jewelry and other small items. The home had a tile roof, so we had to removed hundreds of clay tiles before beginning to dig.”
Brummitt added that a shout suddenly rang out as someone had uncovered an intact crystal angel from a Nativity. It was under 14 inches of tile and concrete rubble. Digging slowed down as a wiseman with broken arms was found … then a donkey and lamb. In total, six intact pieces and two broken pieces were unearthed. Sadly, the manger with baby Jesus wasn’t recovered.
Just as often, though, the treasure that homeowners found was a gold shirt with a listening ear.
Maggie Chapman, a gold hat team member who attends Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, shared the story of one Lahaina family. “One day, when we stopped to get ice cream, we met a local homeowner. We kind of took over the picnic table he was sitting at,” she related. “The chaplain started talking to him, and he opened up to nine strangers. With his limited English, he told us about escaping the fires. In the dark of night and the intense smoke, he was separated from his wife and daughter. It was a couple of days after he got out of the neighborhood before he even knew if they had survived. He just wanted to talk about his ordeal. We prayed with him and offered him a Bible. He declined the Bible; but said he did have a Spanish version.”
Another story involved a strong, dynamic lady who lost her home of 32 years in the Maui wildfire. She is a runner, fisher, works full time at a hotel and has her own cleaning company. She had already worked around the rubble of her home searching for anything of value when she decided to request help from Hawaii Pacific Baptist Disaster Relief.
As the MODR team of five sifted the ashes of her home, some of the keepsakes they found included two of her half-marathon medals, a small bottle that had contained her father’s ashes, a jewelry metal heart with her parent’s names on it and numerous coins from around the world that she had collected. However, she didn’t know what the sticker on her mailbox meant, which read “Maui Stay Strong, Psalms 34:8”. She said that her sister had put it there. In response, the team gave her a Bible so she can read for herself that God is her refuge.
Another God wink occurred when a girl, who was being helped, pulled up her sleeve to show her hummingbird tattoo when the MODR team handed her a small, undamaged crystal hummingbird recovered from the ruins of her home. Her sister had died a few years ago and the hummingbird was her symbol.
“Our mission wasn’t about finding ‘stuff,” Brummitt reiterated. “It was to walk alongside hurting people. We offered them help and hope as they faced their devastating loss.
“While some were digging and sifting, others were by the resident’s side, listening as they reminisced, holding their hand when they struggled, offering hugs and tissues when they cried,” he added. “We listened to their stories of surviving impenetrable smoke, almost unbearable heat and chaos all around them. We remind them that God is aware of all they are enduring and that He loves them.”