Helping the Community Heal After the Maui Wildfires
From the Founder, Luis Flores – Following the Maui Wildfires in August 2023, things were very uncertain, and at first, it wasn’t obvious how we could help. Our family knew that we wanted to help, but we felt pretty clueless. However, we knew we needed to help. At the time, hubs were starting to pop up, and people began receiving essential necessities such as food, water, etc. After many talks with the family, we decided we should stick with what we know best and what we are good at. After all, “We own a laundromat,” and this is a way we could help.
Power was restored at the shop sooner than we had anticipated. Our first idea was to let the community come to the shop and do their laundry at no charge, but we realized how much the people of Lahaina had to deal with at once. The last thing we wanted was to have them wait in line for a long time, especially since they had other priorities such as finding family members, dealing with insurance paperwork, and working with FEMA, etc. We understand how valuable everyone’s time is because time is something you can never get back. For that reason, we decided to set up a free laundry drop-off program for five days with the help of a team from Mathew Ministries.
We honestly could not believe how happy the community was; we did not expect to create such a big impact. It was then when we realized that people had most of the basic needs, but it was pointless if they did not have clean clothes to wear. During this time, most people’s possessions were donated, and for a few weeks, people were not able to leave West Maui, making laundry a huge part of people’s lives.
Our family is very grateful for this opportunity to help the community in such a big way. To this day, we hear stories from people who come and still support our business. We will forever be proud of who we are and what we stand for.
