The lava flow remained active upslope from Pahoa on Oct. 30 as the tip of the flow was stalled about 180 yards from Pahoa Village Road, which crosses the photo at lower right. Sacred Heart Church is on Pahoa Village Road out of the picture on the lower left. Built on a higher elevation, it is not considered in any immediate danger from the lava. (Photo courtesy of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory)
HOPE Services Hawaii, a nonprofit organization created by the Diocese of Honolulu in 2010 to aid the homeless on the Big Island, has been heavily engaged in outreach to residents in Pahoa and its surrounding subdivisions as the lava makes its approach.
Its chief executive officer Brandee Menino said the organization has participated in community information fairs about the impending flow. It also has joined the Hawaii County Office of Aging and other nonprofit organizations in going door to door, seeking out Pahoa’s disabled and elderly residents long before the lava threat became imminent.
HOPE Services earlier had sought out vulnerable Puna residents after Tropical Storm Iselle ravaged the east side of the Big Island in August.
This one-on-one outreach “has been most effective” identifying those most in need and keeping them informed about the lava’s progress, Menino said.
“We were assuming everybody reads the paper or watches the news,” Menino said. But she learned that many choose to live in rural Puna “because they want to be disconnected.”
Menino, who also served as a resource at the Sacred Heart Church informational meetings, said the Pahoa parish coincidentally was already a participant in a disaster preparedness pilot project created about a year ago by the diocesan Office for Social Ministry. The goal of the project is to connect the parish with other community churches and organizations to provide food, shelter and other services in disaster situations.
The lava has put one major Pahoa HOPE Services project on hold — a 20-unit housing project for low-income seniors on Sacred Heart Church property.
The development, which is reusing former transitional housing structures transported from Kawaihae on the other side of the island, is nearing completion, but its purpose may change, Menino said, if the lava flow creates other needs.
HOPE Services is discussing long-term plans for a more independent, self-sustaining Puna if the lava does isolate it from vital services.
Menino said it would be impossible to evacuate the 10,000 residents living in the subdivisions that might be cut off from the rest of the island. Besides, she said, most would have no intention of moving because they enjoy living “off the grid.”
“We just need to give them the tools that they need to sustain their living,” she said.
She compared the situation to that of the remote Maui town of Hana. Isolated from the heart of Maui by mountains and accessible only by a long winding road, Hana has become a self-sustaining community where food, supplies, recreation and jobs are all available within its boundaries, Menino said.
Puna community leaders are exploring ways its farmers would create pop-up stores and markets. Menino said they are also considering options for transporting medical and daily living supplies to Pahoa from Hilo.
The ultimate goal, she said, is to shift the focus from short-term disaster relief to “self-sustaining, independence.”
“It’s okay to provide relief and relief supplies, but we really are here to empower the community,” Menino said. “So let’s help them help themselves.”
