After spending a week on deployment in West Maui, Nick sits down and shares some personal reflections. Nick’s parents are pastors at Citizen Church in Lahaina - a seven minute drive from the center of the burn scar left by recent wildfires. He shares stories of beauty found amidst tragedy, serving hearts in the community, and even miracles of God’s provision manifested through hot meals.
After spending a week on deployment in West Maui, Nick sits down and shares some personal reflections. Nick’s parents are pastors at Citizen Church in Lahaina - a seven minute drive from the center of the burn scar left by recent wildfires. He shares stories of beauty found amidst tragedy, serving hearts in the community, and even miracles of God’s provision manifested through hot meals.
Hey buddy, hello and welcome to the Mercy Chefs hey Buddy podcast. I'm your host, nick Beckman, all alone today, just me. I'm recently back from Mercy Chefs deployment to West Maui. Figured I would sit and think a little bit. If you'll humor me, I will try and sift through what I saw, hopefully share some stories, talk about what Mercy Chefs was able to do, but also talk about the incredible people I met, the incredible people of West Maui, hopefully shine a light on what they're doing there.
Speaker 1:As you probably know by now, West Maui was ravaged by wildfires two weeks ago today, from the day I'm recording, wednesday, august 9th, a day that won't soon be forgotten on the island of Maui. To set the stage, a little geography. Kahului sits in a bay nestled between the two mountain ranges volcanic mountain ranges that make up the island of Maui. You may call it the north, although there are parts that are further north than Kahului. Kahului is where the airport is, costco, walmart, sam's Club, whole Foods. Feels like any other American city, except for, maybe, the view of the Pacific. As you look west, you see those volcanic mountain ranges reaching up from the ocean to the sky. There's a road south out to the ocean and then the road turns west. There's one road. It is the connection point, the lifeblood between the hub of Kahului and Lahaina on Maui's far western shore.
Speaker 1:From everybody I talk to on the ground reports stories of survivors. There are two fires, one to the north and one to the south, both burning to the west, directly into Old Lahaina town. As you read news stories and articles about this fire and how it happened, speculations on agronomy and climate change and all the things that led to this devastating fire, you may have seen that Maui West Maui in particular is in fact a desert. It may seem strange to envision an island in the South Pacific that many of us think about palm trees and rainforests being called a desert, but it is in fact. The western slopes of Maui are all dry grasses. Rainfall here is often, but rather small. You may have heard of drought conditions here on West Maui. You may have heard of wind. As Hurricane Dora turned her way across the South Pacific, a few hundred miles south of the island chain of Hawaii, she whipped wind from the east to the west. Gusts of 80, 90, miles an hour up over the mountain range, down the slopes, out to the ocean, east to west, directly over Old Lahaina town.
Speaker 1:Brush fires are common. Folks I talk to there talk about annual fires. It's just a way of life. The west of Maui is sparsely populated, lots of natural area, beautiful beaches, yes, but a half mile off the beach you turn back into native land, purposely so. It's beautiful, it's well kept, it's preserved, but it's dry. Fires are a way of life, as they are in a lot of western states across the mainland of the US. Nothing to worry about. Fire crews are well prepared, they can handle it. So when reports on Tuesday came out of fires burning here and there across the west, most people thought well, it's August in Maui, and yet Dora had something else to say.
Speaker 1:Wildfire and wind make for a pretty disgusting pair. Two fires, one to the north, one to the south, both burning west, cleaving a path through the town and anything in its path burning out towards the ocean. You've heard reports of folks getting trapped, nowhere to go but the ocean. Daring coast guard rescues an uncountable number of folks in the water, and it's all true. It's terrifying and it's true. With hurricane force winds fueling the fire, an aging water system, fire hydrants that were failing, firefighters didn't have much to do but save as many lives as they could pull people back into safety. The death toll sits over 100 now. Who knows how far it'll climb. There may be many that were lost to see as Hurricane Force winds blue west away from the island.
Speaker 1:I have a personal connection with the island of Maui. I've never lived there. I visited Three years ago. My mother became a pastor on Maui, just three miles north of Lahaina, just outside of Canapali Citizen Church, a plant church of a wonderful and healthy church in Albuquerque, new Mexico. They're small, they're tight-knit, they're a beautiful community. I got a call from my mom early, early in the morning on Wednesday my time and she said Nick, we're okay, but what do I do? And so we put things in motion. Mercy Chef said yes, we will stand with you, 2,000 miles across the Pacific, we will stand with you. And so, across an ocean and across a country, we began to put things in motion. We sent staff from California, from West Virginia, from Florida, from Virginia. We all converged on Maui. Citizen Church sits just north of Lahaina, on the west side of Maui and, as we talked about, there's only one road south and then west. And in the aftermath of the fire, as first responders, police firemen converged on Lahaina town to sift through the rubble and do their jobs. They closed that road as it goes right through the center, right through the heart of Lahaina. There was no access, but we knew we needed to set up somewhere and get first meals out. People needed food. Folks from the west side had evacuated up into Kahalui at convention centers, community centers, churches. We were honored to work with King's Cathedral in Maui lovely people, beautiful church heart for service and a commercial kitchen.
Speaker 1:It became clear soon after landing that we would need to be more than one place on this small island. We knew we needed to get west, to get to the heart of the need, find those folks who had stayed in and around communities that weren't burned, find the folks that had fled north into Kahana and Kapa'lua. But there was need, right in front of us in Kahalui, as folks sheltered together, unsure of what was happening on the west side, if there would be anything left for them to go back to. And King's Cathedral opened their doors to us. They opened their kitchen and they said here, help us, help our community. So that was where we landed first. We got our first meals out. On Friday, august 10th, we began serving folks there in shelters, serving the church community, as folks came by for water, toiletries, clothes. But we knew we needed to get west.
Speaker 1:We always know that we need to go to the heart of the need and every mercy chef always does our best to get to the hard to reach areas with hot food, with hope, with a little love. We love and respect our first responders. We love and we respect police. We love and we respect fire crews. But we also know where our authority comes from. We know the call on our lives. Each and every mercy chef we know the call to go feed people, just go feed people. So while we're respectful of cordoned off areas of boundaries, we can't let anything stand in our way.
Speaker 1:So we went, we traveled the road, trusting that the Lord would go before us and make a path, and he did. We worked contacts at the Emergency Operations Center within police and fire crews, within National Guard. We told them who we were, we told them what we were doing and, as it always happens, there was respect and great gratitude there for our work and doors were opened. I won't soon forget the hug I shared with my mother in the parking lot of Citizen Church, maui, seeing the look on her face of relief, knowing that family came to help her, not just blood family, not just her son, but MercyChef's family. They answered the call. It was an honor to do it. It was worth the travel. We brought hot food with us. That first day we were able to serve out of their church, although it wasn't the first food that had been served out of that church.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing community on the west of Maui, a diverse population, more so than you might expect if you've never visited and they'd been serving. As soon as word of fire came north out of Lahaina, the church doors were opened, bridges and freezers were unpacked, grills were rolled out, tents were set up. They were ready to serve the community. A few thousand meals went out the doors of Citizen Church Maui before MercyChef's ever showed up. Amazing people doing amazing food in really hard circumstances.
Speaker 1:Given its proximity to Lahaina town, just three miles north, many of the folks in the church community had lost everything Pastors and staff, key volunteers. If it wasn't a home, it was a business. If it wasn't family, it was a friend. If it wasn't one, it was two, three, four. Everybody lost something. Every eye I looked into showed loss, but it also showed joy. And walking into that parking lot for the first time post-disaster, feeling a sense of purpose from everybody there, knowing that this was the time for kingdom work, was such a blessing to me and to everybody who had lost everything.
Speaker 1:Citizen is a great church, full of great people, big hearts, but lacking one thing, one very important thing that MercyChef's needs the commercial kitchen, and we knew we would need to find somewhere. Even a little further north of Kahana, nappele, where Citizen Church is settled, you may recognize the name Kapalua, a famous golf course, a beautiful golf course with a famous restaurant, the famous clubhouse, the Plantation House at Kapalua, host to the first PGA Tour event of every year. The Plantation Course at Kapalua is maybe the most beautiful place I've ever seen, nestled between the mountains and the Pacific golf course, cutting through canyons and valleys as it winds its way down and back from the hills to the ocean. It's an incredible place and, as I would soon find out, full of incredible people. As you may have heard, tourists were quickly evacuated from the island, leaving resorts, golf courses, hotels, empty staff, unsure of what was next. And through contacts at Citizen Church, the door is open for Mercy chefs to step in at the plantation house. Not only that, the staff was ready and waiting.
Speaker 1:The one hiccup no power. Now hotline kitchen equipment runs off of liquid propane unaffected by fires. We could turn on stoves, we could turn on ovens, but the exhaust fans, the large vent hoods above that hotline equipment are all electric. They'd gotten a generator in the day before we arrived, which was Saturday, and had it rewired the building to run the hoods off of that generator. But lights were sparse, no temperature controls, a couple fans running off of snaked power cords across the floor.
Speaker 1:So soon after we landed it says in church in West Maui we knew we needed to go north, visit the people at Kapalua, see the kitchen, understand where we were working, how we could make it work. So we drove up, I closed the car door and the service road behind the kitchen and the power was off. As I stood outside, the power was off, generator running electrical cords snaking across the floor. And as I walked into the kitchen, as I turned the corner, the lights came on. Now I know I had nothing to do with it, my presence there made no difference, but it was a sign. It very much felt like the Lord saying this is it, this is where you need to be. There's a lot of joy there in that moment as I got to meet the staff and as we all celebrated the return of power and what a staff they were. I'll forget names but I'll do my best.
Speaker 1:Chef Jared, chef Jonathan Sophia, chef Sergio, chef Sergio, all the staff, chefs, all the servers, grounds crews, maintenance folks they all came out. They were all there waiting ready to be Mercy chefs. You don't have to wear the shirt and be on staff with Mercy chefs to be one, you just have to have the heart. And my word, did they have the heart?
Speaker 1:We ask a lot of crazy questions. We've talked about tilt skillets here on the hey Buddy podcast before and how vital they are to our operation and doing a lot of food really, really well. And they didn't have one, as most restaurants don't. So Chef Dustin says do you have roasting pans? Do you have pots, big pots? And they say, well, yeah, I mean I suppose we do. We can go look in the catering zone and they pull out some old battered stainless steel roasting pans and Dustin puts them on the stoves and the flat tops and turns on the water, turns on the heat and he says this is how we'll do it. No tilt skillet, no problem. All we need is some big pots and the first couple of days, the looks on the faces of high caliber chefs, incredible chefs with incredible hearts as Dustin made food in a roasting pan were priceless. But soon they said okay, we understand, we can do that, we can jump in.
Speaker 1:My heart goes out to the folks at the Plantation House restaurant who are sheltering their own staff downstairs in meeting rooms and convention spaces. There's very much a family. It was very cool that they allowed us to be a part of their family while we were there. I was honored to have stood alongside them and served their community. So, thank you, you know, all know who you are. If you're listening, you know who you are. Thank you for your warm welcome, for your hearts, for allowing us to stand alongside you as you serve your community, and that's what we did. We did a lot of hot meals out of the Plantation House back in Kapalua and we drive them down the highway. We'd set them back up at Citizen Church and we'd serve the community.
Speaker 1:We talk a lot about loaves and fishes here at Mercy Chefs, as you may expect. It's one of our favorite parables and we like to say that the Lord really likes to multiply. For us. Chef Dustin, chef Lisa, chef Chris, chef John, they all know it. We all run numbers, we look at the groceries we have on hand and we say this will make X number, this is how much food we can do with what we have. But we all know the Lord knows differently. He knows how much food he can make.
Speaker 1:And we had a moment that first day, before the power came on at the kitchen, dustin and I drove in with what we thought was 200 meals and we pulled it out and we set it up, ready to get plated, ready to go out into the community. Folks that said isn't we're chomping at the bit? Ready, ready, ready, ready to start serving. And they began as soon as we got out they began plating, getting meals ready to go out, and soon they were done with 100. 100 meals plated, ready to go out, and soon after that they were done with 200. And we said that's great, good, we did it, there's the food. But they kept scooping and soon they were done with 300. And we looked at each other and we said this is one of those moments. And finally, the last bit of food, the last plate, ran out at 350. And every single one of them were gone. We sent them out in four trucks to different neighborhoods this community knew of, knew, needed food, and it wasn't but 30 minutes when they all returned with empty trucks, loaves and fishes.
Speaker 1:While on the outside it may look like Lahaina is a relatively small geographic area because it is, with a relatively small population, just over 9,000. It's tight knit. You probably recognize the word Ohana, the native Hawaiian word for family. That does mean family, but, as words so often do, it means a lot more than that. Real estate on Maui is expensive, to say the least. The population of the island, folks who live there full time, revolves around tourism Lots of folks working in the service industry, at the hotels, restaurants, resorts, golf courses, shops. Not high wages, not high salaries, but they have to live somewhere. So what happens is folks build houses within houses, lots of multi-generational living, especially within the Hispanic immigrant population. But across every demographic you'll find Ohanas, broader families, not just blood family. You may have seen the story of Brad, a faithful member of Citizen Church, a lovely man, someone who was honored to have met. He had an Ohana, not just his blood family, living on his property, but three other families In tiny houses, in spare rooms, above workshops. A lot of people didn't just lose property, they lost safety and security. The knowledge that they had somewhere to go Renting on the island is different than it may be on the mainland.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes you're renting from a friend, a friend of a friend, someone with a big heart and an extra room, with a contract in quotes, signed on the back of an Afghan, between two trusting parties. But that was it for a lot of people no renters insurance, no property insurance. Now hoping that that relationship built on trust with the landlord will sustain through what's next. And who knows what's next? Lahain is gone, as fire does. There are buildings that are unaffected, nestled in the middle of wreckage and rubble, homes that you may look at and say, why did that one get spared? And it will be rebuilt. It'll take time but it will be rebuilt, and we can pray that it is rebuilt well and faithfully to the quaint old town, full of small, beautiful shops, restaurants, homes. But it'll be a long road, it'll be a long time before normal returns. So I'd ask that you pray, stand with us in praying for the folks on Maui, folks who maybe don't know what home looks like now or in the future. Everybody lost something. As I said, looking into eyes, there weren't many people unaffected, if any. So join us, please, in prayer for these folks.
Speaker 1:As I leave you today, I'd like to share some thoughts of a co-worker who was on the ground with us, a MercyChef staff member, on one of her first MercyChef's deployments. She says, while serving this beautiful land and beautiful people, I heard that there was a long list of those who had not yet been found. My heart sank at the realization that it had already been several days and ways to communicate had been somewhat restored. In all likelihood, most would never communicate with those lost family and friends ever again. As I went about work in Maui this day, in the back of my mind I had a conscious awareness that so many people were grieving not just for the loss of buildings or jobs that, after much demanded resiliency, could be rebuilt, but so many were grieving for the lives that could not, that would not ever be recovered.
Speaker 1:In the very center of this, we have nothing more to offer than simply a plate of love no answers, no solutions, no advice, no religious agenda, but the temporary comfort of nutritious, flavorful meals that impart a lasting experience of love To all my Ohana on Maui I love you, I miss you. Thank you for welcoming me. Thank you for welcoming MercyChef's. It was an honor to stand alongside you and serve. We know the road is long and dark and in this moment you can't see over the horizon, but know that the Lord can and he does see over the horizon and there's a perfect plan in place for the future. So walk day by day, step by step, trusting that, do the best you can, give hot food, give a hug, give a little love, give a little hope on a plate. Godspeed, mercychef's and to all of you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening, thanks for indulging me as I rambled here for who knows 30 minutes. I hope you find something in here that resonates with you. I hope you pray. I hope you join us in standing with the folks on West Maui. Thank you for your support, for the prayers that you have made, for the financial contributions that you have made, for your thoughts. We can't do it without you. We're honored to stand alongside you and alongside the people on Maui. Thank you, I'm sure we'll talk soon.