Poet and songwriter Mary Anne Anderson spends half of her time in Cambria.

The rest of the time, she lives on the Hawaiian island of Maui, a short drive from Lahaina. Recent wildfires have devastated the seaside community and claimed at least 114 lives.

One of the people who died in the Maui wildfires was Anderson’s friend, Maui Live Poets Society member Carole Hartley.

“We lost a loved one,” said Anderson, who was in Maui when the fires hit.

SLO County resident leads fundraising efforts in Maui

In the wake of the Maui wildfires, Anderson is using her music, poetry and property to help her community.

ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement

She wrote a poem titled “Ghost Wind of Lahaina,” in which she compares the “flames of fury” that devastated Maui to “a wind that blows through the island, leaving destruction in its wake.”

“Ghost wind whines, shrieks like the banshee, folds the living into its arms and disappears,” Anderson wrote in her poem.

She said the heaviness of the grief has prompted her into action.

The Maui Live Poets Society has been an important part of Mary Anne Anderson’s life on the island. Her friend and Maui Live Poets Society member, Carole Harley, pictured on the far right, lost her life in the fire.

In their condminiums near Lahaina, Anderson and her husband, Ames, are sheltering two families who lost their homes in the Maui wildfires.

Anderson encourages anyone with unharmed property on the island to do the same.

“It is unconscionable to have an empty condo when there are families in need,” Mary Anne Anderson said.

In addition to sheltering Lahaina residents, the Andersons, who perform acoustic music as the band Simple Pleasures, are putting on benefit concerts and donating the proceeds to the Maui Food Bank.

Mary Anne Anderson and her husband Ames Anderson perform in a band called Simple Pleasures. Now, they are using their music to raise money for residents impacted by the Maui wildfires.

They held their first benefit concert at Unity Church of Maui, where Mary Anne Anderson worships.

Anderson is hopeful that the Maui community will rebuild and “rise like a phoenix from the ashes.”

“We are Maui strong,” Anderson said. “We are all ohana. We are all Maui and we all belong together.”

SLO County restaurant chain has Maui location

Anderson isn’t the only person with San Luis Obispo County ties who lost something in the Maui wildfires.

Sean Corpuel is the owner and manager of Cool Cat Cafe, a small restaurant chain that has 1950s-style diners in San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach and Lahaina.

Cool Cafe Cafe in Lahaina was destroyed in the fires along with another Lahaina restaurant owned by Corpuel, Captain Jack’s Island Grill.

In response, Corpuel launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help more than 120 restaurant employees who lost their jobs due to the destruction.

This photo provided by Maui County shows fire and smoke filling the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui, Hawaii on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023.

“More than half of them have lost their homes and vehicles as well,” Corpuel wrote on the GoFundMe page. “We are so thankful that they survived but the devastation is just beginning. In the short term, many are without food, water, clothes, toiletries, hygiene products, or a bed to sleep in.”

“Our staff is our extended family,” he added. “It is heartbreaking to think of the crisis they are in.”

As of midday Monday, more than $114,000 had been raised toward a goal of $500,000.

The Cool Cat Cafe restaurants in Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo remain open.

How to help

To donate to the Cool Cat Cafe GoFundMe campaign, go to gofundme.com/f/maui-fire-fund-for-cool-cat-captainjacks-staff.

You can support Maui residents by donating to organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Maui Food Bank and the Pacific Whale Foundation’s Maui Community Relief Fund.