Emergency Relief for Indigenous Elders, Families & Communities

When Mother Earth changes everything, we take care of one another.

Our First Goal: $50,000

🌿 OUR INSPIRATION

Across generations, Indigenous peoples have carried teachings of relationship, reciprocity, community, and responsibility.

We are reminded that we do not walk this Earth alone.

We belong to families.
We belong to communities.
We belong to the land and waters that sustain us.

And ultimately—

We Are All Related.

The Sacred Relief Fund was born from a simple question:

When disaster strikes and someone in our circle suddenly loses everything, what can we do?

Wildfires can consume a lifetime in hours.

Floodwaters can enter a home in minutes.

Hurricanes and severe storms can leave families without electricity, communication, transportation, or shelter.

Earthquakes, volcanic events, floods, fires, and other natural disasters can change the course of a family's life without warning.

Behind every disaster headline is a human story.

An elder wondering where they will sleep.

A family searching for food and clothing.

A grandmother who has lost photographs and belongings collected over a lifetime.

Children frightened by what has happened around them.

A community trying to care for one another while experiencing the same disaster themselves.

The Sacred Relief Fund exists for those moments.

FROM PRAYER TO ACTION

At The Path, prayer has always been at the heart of our work.

But there are moments when prayer asks something more from us.

It asks us to become the hands that help.

The Sacred Relief Fund was created by The Path to provide compassionate emergency and recovery assistance to Indigenous elders, individuals, families, communities, and Indigenous-led relief efforts affected by natural disasters and related emergencies.

We want to be able to respond when someone suddenly needs food.

When an elder needs medicine.

When a family needs somewhere safe to sleep.

When someone needs fuel to reach family or medical care.

When a household has lost its basic necessities.

And sometimes, the greatest gift we can give is simply listening to a family and allowing them the dignity to tell us:

“This is what we need most right now.”

❤️ OUR FIRST GOAL: $50,000

We are beginning with a goal of raising $50,000 for The Sacred Relief Fund.

This is not a goal for one storm or one moment.

We hope to meet urgent needs now while beginning to establish a sustainable emergency fund that can be ready when Indigenous elders, families, and communities suddenly need help.

As this circle of generosity grows—and as new emergencies arise—we hope the Fund will grow with it.

Today, our first response is Hawaiʻi.

Tomorrow, we may be called somewhere else.

🌺 OUR CURRENT RESPONSE: HAWAIʻI ISLAND

Kaʻū • Nā‘ālehu • Pāhala • Surrounding Communities

The Sacred Relief Fund begins in Hawaiʻi because, for our family, this is not a distant disaster. It is home.

Hawaiʻi Island—and particularly the rural district of Kaʻū—has been woven into Grandmother Flordemayo's family for many years.

Her great-grandchildren and grandson-in-law live on Hawaiʻi Island.

The father of her grandchildren and members of his family live there.

Aunties, uncles, cousins, extended ʻohana, and dear friends live throughout these communities.

Grandmother Flordemayo's daughter Heather and son-in-law Caleb also called Hawaiʻi Island home for years, spending their winters there and becoming deeply connected to the land, community, and rhythms of life in Kaʻū.

These are not simply names of towns we have seen on the news.

We know these roads.
We know these communities.
We know these families.
We love this place.

Our grandchildren have grown beneath these skies.

Our family has gathered here.

We have celebrated birthdays and holidays here, watched children grow, sat beside the ocean, traveled these long rural roads, and experienced the extraordinary beauty and generosity of the people who call southern Hawaiʻi Island home.

And today, people we love are hurting.

🌊 WHEN DISASTER REACHES A RURAL COMMUNITY

The recent storm brought extraordinary rainfall, flooding, infrastructure damage, power outages, and disruption to communities across Hawaiʻi Island.

Homes have been damaged or lost.

Roads and bridges have been affected.

Families have experienced power and communication outages.

Some communities have faced periods of isolation.

For people living in a large rural district, a damaged road or bridge isn't simply an inconvenience.

It can mean being separated from:

medical care, food, fuel, work, family, emergency services, and help.

That is part of why we feel called to respond.

🌿 UNDERSTANDING KAʻŪ

Kaʻū is extraordinary.

It is also remote.

The district encompasses approximately 922 square miles and more than 80 miles of largely undeveloped coastline. Within this vast landscape are small communities including Nā‘ālehu, Waiʻōhinu, Pāhala, Punaluʻu, Discovery Harbour, and Ocean View.

Nā‘ālehu had a population of only 811 people in the 2020 Census and is classified as a rural community.

The geographic isolation that makes Kaʻū so beautiful can also create significant challenges during an emergency.

Access to healthcare is limited. Kaʻū Hospital is the only inpatient medical facility serving the entire Kaʻū District, and its emergency department has only four beds.

When roads, bridges, power, and communication are disrupted across a rural landscape this large, families can become isolated very quickly.

This is why community-based assistance matters.

🌺 A COMMUNITY WITH DEEP ROOTS

Kaʻū is more than a geographic district.

It is an ancestral landscape with profound Native Hawaiian history, culture, and relationship to ʻāina.

It is also a diverse community shaped by generations of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Asian, multiracial, agricultural, ranching, and immigrant families.

Statistics cannot measure the auntie checking on an elder after the storm.

The neighbor with a truck bringing supplies.

The family opening their home when someone else's is gone.

The people clearing debris and helping neighbors before anyone asks them to.

Or the generations of relationship to land, ocean, food, family, and community that make Kaʻū what it is.

This is ʻohana.

And when disaster reaches communities already facing geographic isolation and limited resources, recovery can be especially difficult.

🙏 FOR GRANDMOTHER FLORDEMAYO, THIS IS PERSONAL

When Grandmother Flordemayo hears about what is happening in Hawaiʻi, she doesn't see a statistic.

She sees family.

Her great-grandchildren are there.

Her grandson-in-law is there.

The father of her grandchildren and his family are there.

Aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, and people considered ʻohana are there.

Her daughter Heather and son-in-law Caleb have called the island home.

And we already know someone we love who has lost everything.

There will be others.

Some will have insurance and resources.

Some will not.

Some will have large circles of support.

Others may never publicly ask for help.

That is the heart of The Sacred Relief Fund.

What if we looked at every disaster this way?

What if the elder who lost her home were our grandmother?

What if the frightened child were our grandchild?

What if the family sleeping somewhere unfamiliar tonight were our family?

Would we respond differently?

We believe we would.

And so we begin here.

One elder.
One family.
One household.
One community.
One act of love at a time.

🌎 WHY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES?

Natural disasters do not discriminate.

But Indigenous and rural communities can face unique challenges during emergencies—including geographic isolation, limited infrastructure and resources, and threats not only to homes and livelihoods, but also to ancestral lands, traditional foods and medicines, cultural places, and community gathering spaces.

When ancestral land is harmed, something deeper than property can be affected.

There are histories there.
Prayers there.
Ancestors there.
Medicines there.
Memories there.
Generations yet to come.

Supporting recovery can mean helping protect both people and the living relationships that sustain their communities.

❤️ WHAT YOUR GIFT CAN HELP PROVIDE

Depending upon the circumstances and available resources, Sacred Relief Fund assistance may help provide:

• Emergency food and clean drinking water
• Temporary lodging and shelter
• Clothing and personal necessities
• Transportation and fuel
• Essential medicines and supplies
• Evacuation expenses
• Essential household items
• Disaster cleanup and recovery supplies
• Other urgent disaster-related needs identified by affected individuals and communities

Sometimes the greatest gift we can give a family is the dignity of allowing them to tell us what they need most.

🤲 COMMUNITY-GUIDED RELIEF

We believe disaster relief should begin by listening.

We do not want to enter a community assuming we know what people need.

We want to ask:

How are you?
What happened?
Who needs help?
What do you need right now?

And then listen.

Requests for assistance will be reviewed by The Path with guidance from our Sacred Relief Council, a small circle of elders and designated community representatives entrusted with helping steward the Fund.

Whenever possible, we will also seek guidance from trusted elders, Indigenous leaders, organizations, and people within the affected community.

Decisions may consider urgency, health and safety, displacement, vulnerability, severity of loss, community knowledge, available resources, and the charitable purposes of The Path.

Council members will disclose significant conflicts of interest and will not participate in decisions where such conflicts exist.

The Path retains final charitable discretion over all distributions.

Our goal is a process that is:

Simple enough for someone experiencing a crisis.
Responsible enough to honor every donor.
Compassionate enough to preserve human dignity.

🌿 NEED EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE?

We understand that someone who has just experienced a disaster should not have to complete a complicated grant application.

Our application process is intentionally simple.

Individuals and families may request assistance for themselves.

A trusted elder, family member, community representative, or Indigenous organization may also refer someone experiencing an urgent need.

We will ask for basic information including:

• Who you are and the community where you live
• What happened
• What you or your family need most right now
• The approximate amount or type of assistance requested, if known
• The best way to reach you
• When possible, a trusted community reference who can help us understand or verify the circumstances

We recognize that identification, paperwork, internet access, electricity, and even phones may be lost or inaccessible following a disaster.

Our intention is never to make someone experiencing a crisis prove their suffering through unnecessary paperwork.

To Request Assistance

Please email:

Heather & Grandmother Flordemayo
info@followthegoldenpath.org

Subject line:

SACRED RELIEF FUND REQUEST

If internet or communication services are unavailable, a trusted community member may initiate a request on someone's behalf.

Submitting a request does not guarantee assistance. Support depends upon individual circumstances, urgency, available resources, and The Path's charitable guidelines.

❤️ DIGNITY & PRIVACY MATTER

Receiving assistance should never require someone to publicly share their suffering.

The Path will maintain appropriate confidential records of assistance.

We will not publicly share someone's name, photograph, personal circumstances, or story simply because they received help.

If we would like to share someone's story to demonstrate the impact of the Fund, we will ask permission first.

Dignity is part of relief.

🌎 WHEN ONE EMERGENCY ENDS

The Sacred Relief Fund is being created as an ongoing emergency resource, not for only one disaster.

When we are actively responding to a particular emergency, that response may be prioritized.

If donations exceed the needs The Path can responsibly address within that response, remaining funds will stay within The Sacred Relief Fund to support eligible Indigenous elders, families, communities, and Indigenous-led relief efforts affected by future natural disasters and emergencies.

This allows the circle to remain ready.

Today it may be a flood in Hawaiʻi.

Tomorrow it may be a wildfire, hurricane, earthquake, volcanic event, or another natural disaster affecting a different Indigenous community.

Wherever we are called, our promise remains:

Listen first.
Respond with compassion.
Protect dignity.
Honor community wisdom.
Steward every gift responsibly.

🙏 A PRAYER OVER THE SACRED RELIEF FUND

Creator of All Life,

May every gift offered here become medicine.

Where there is hunger,
may it become food.

Where there is displacement,
may it become shelter.

Where there is darkness,
may it become light.

Where an elder feels forgotten,
may it become remembrance.

Where a family has lost everything,
may it become the first small piece of beginning again.

Guide these resources toward the places where they can do the greatest good.

Give wisdom to the elders and community members entrusted with their stewardship.

May we listen before acting.

May we give without judgment.

May assistance be received with dignity.

May generosity travel farther than we ever imagined.

And may every person receiving help know that somewhere—perhaps from someone they will never meet—another human being cared.

For the ancestors behind us,

for those walking beside us,

and for the generations yet to come—

may we take care of one another.

We Are All Related.

Amen.

🌿 JOIN THE CIRCLE

Donate • Pray • Share

Today, our prayers and assistance begin with Hawaiʻi Island.

Tomorrow, this circle may be called somewhere else.

Wherever that may be, our message will remain the same:

We see you.
We hear you.
You are not forgotten.
You are part of the circle.

Whether you can give $10, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1,000 or more, your gift becomes part of a collective response rooted in compassion and reciprocity.

If you cannot make a financial contribution, you can still help.

Share this campaign.
Pray with us.
Tell someone about the Fund.
Help us find the people who may need us.

Because there are times for prayer.

There are times for action.

And sometimes love asks us for both.