A unique benefit at my former school was the endowed Kent Summer Sabbatical program offered to faculty and administrators after seven years of service. Established to ensure that educators who had dedicated their careers to Roland Park Country School would be able to pursue a passion in the summer which could be shared with the school community the following fall. Proposals were required and once accepted you could plan your time away with a generous stipend.
My proposal was to live in a home on the ocean on Maui and write a collection of poems. It was a magical week with my family. Each morning I wrote for a few hours at a picnic table literally perched on a ledge overhanging the ocean while the house full of teenagers was silent. My view was an endless crystal clear blue ocean. It was truly a dream come true.
Maui did not disappoint. From surfing on the North Shore (the kids, not me), to driving the Road to Hana, to swimming with turtles in our own backyard, to hula dancing at a luau at the Polynesian Culture Center, to visiting Lahaina, the island’s beauty and its people filled our hearts and souls.
We were treated like Ohana on Maui. Family. We have never forgotten the kindnesses we received there. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones, their homes, and their towns, when the nightmare fire erupted recently fueled by hurricane winds roaring through dry, wild grasses. The devastation is simply heartbreaking.
For me, and as the Head of Kent School, I always think first about the children. Will they have enough food to eat and will they be able to attend school? As such, I am choosing to support the Maui Food Bank accepting donations that will pay for meals provided to displaced residents. If you are so inclined, here are additional local resources accepting donations:
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Hawaiʻi People’s Fund: Providing immediate relief to those directly impacted by the wildfires on Maui Island.
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Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation: Partnering with the state Department of Education to support school communities in West Maui through Oct. 1.
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‘Āina Momona: Establishing an emergency fund for Maui County first responders, including Firefighters, Lifeguards, and Emergency Medical Technicians.
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Maui Humane Society: Supporting shelters for displaced people and animals, and caring for injured animals.
Stay Maui Strong
Nancy Mugele
Chestertown
Reed Fawell 3 says
“ROBERT E. WOLLIN: Our Maalaea Bay tent camp in May 1944 had no electricity or water, just outhouses. Trucked in water fed troughs for washing and open showers. We used daylight to best advantage, prepping our new amphibian tanks and ourselves for combat. We did firing practice and driving in formation, going in and out of the Bay, getting the feel of entering the water, turning about, and clamoring back on land. Lots of shifting and good timing by the driver were needed to hit a wave just right going over a reef so we moved through water in 5th gear then touching land we down shifted and revved the engine, grinding onto the sand. These were critical skills, a stalled amtank is a sitting duck for enemy fire. But our strange new vehicles worked and acted differently than earlier models. And we had to practice without combat loads so didn’t know how the added weight would affect their mobility. We assumed we’d float after rolling off an LST into the sea. And had no idea of the terrain we’d face on Saipan or real practice in how to deal with it.
Despite the hectic pace we’d top off each day’s training with a swim. Beautiful fish swam in abundance and shone blue and crystal clear over sea urchins bright on coral reefs 50 feet below. Maui flowers bloomed ashore, the scent magnificent, especially at sundown as wind quieted just before the blossoms closed for the night. Our living then felt like Hog Heaven. Compared with what was to come….”
MARSHALL E. HARRIS: Our tent was pitched at the far end of our camp at Maui and it faced the ocean. The scene was amazing. At night, after things had settled down, for a kid who’d first seen an ocean only only months before, I’d lay in the dark listening to surf roll onto a Hawaiian island just out my front door. During the day we’d go offshore and head north up the coast past Lahaina. Up there the whales were plentiful, so we had clear instructions: stay on the lookout, never get closer to a whale than 100 yards. Where the surf off the beach was particularly high coming in from the north, we’d practice driving in formation landings onto the beach, and then do maneuvers onshore and inland. We’d have lunch inland. Once, I spotted several milk cows and look Jerry Swab over a fence to milk a cow. From Chicago, Jerry didn’t know better, so I told him to hold the cow’s tail out behind his rear end, otherwise the cow couldn’t give us milk. Swab did as instructed as I got two cups of milk, one into each of our helmets. Once back with the guys having lunch, I told them how Swab had done all the hard work, keeping that cow’s tail out of way of our getting warm milk. Everyone got a big laugh, except Jerry who insisted he hadn’t been fooled, just played along. A little country store called Kihei Store was run by a Japanese family, a mom, dad, and 5 year old son. They were nice as could be to us. We’d buy soda pop there, go out on the beach, and sit on a log, drinking pop, watching the waves come in. In the 1970’s I returned with my family. The dad had passed away, but his son who ran the store called his mother and we all had a reunion.”
See; http://2ndarmoredamphibianbattalion.com/saipan/
Rev. Nancy Sajda says
Thank you, Nancy, for your very moving letter and for giving us the way to donate directly to these organizations, especially to the Maui Food Bank. These folks really need our help.