SoCal family loses vacation home on Maui, now helping with donation drive for impacted residents
A Southern California family lost their vacation home on Maui and now they're doing what they can to help other families affected by the fires in Hawaii.
"It was windier than (anything) I'd ever been through," said Scott Rusher.
He was there when howling winds blew past his vacation home on Maui and then evacuated before a wildfire burn his Lahaina home to the ground.
"Oh there's nothing left," he said. "There was 11 surfboards, two paddle boards, a guitar, a ukulele, some sunglasses. There's nothing left but rubble. It's going to have to get cleaned up, it's just the cinderblock wall that divided our neighbor and us - that's all that's left."
Now, Rusher is giving back to Maui. He set up a donation drive at his business Rusher Air Conditioning in Lawndale.
"It started at 11 a.m. on Friday, when the message went out, and our lobby was mostly full of donations by 5 o' clock," said Rusher. "It continued through Saturday... people keep coming and dropping things off. I mean, we're thrilled."
Orange County donation drive helps Maui relief with food, clothing, baby supplies
One woman who donated had her house burn down a few years ago. Even though she's never even been to Hawaii, she wanted to give back.
"I just remember how difficult it was, and for the grace of my neighborhood we got together and donated clothing and just supplies to get through.," said Jill Michael from Manhattan Beach. "And it really made such a big difference. I just want them to know that we're thinking of them over here and doing what we can to help them out."
Another man dropped off donations after seeing the news.
"I'm really happy to do it. Boy, there's so many people that need... anything we can do to help," said Michael Escalante from Hawthorne. "All of us have so many things laying around the house that we could easily give up in a situation like this."
The care packages will be shipped to Maui in waves and donations are still open.
