08/19/2026
Aloha our beloved Parish ʻOhana,
As we begin another day following the storm, a few needs and updates…
Immediate need: St. Columba’s Church and the vicarage came through without damage. However, St. Columba’s remains without power, and we are in immediate need of a generator to keep the freezer and refrigerator running so that we do not lose the Community Meal Ministry food stored in them.
If your power has been restored and you have a generator that you no longer need, please contact me or the Parish Office ASAP. They are sold out at all retailers we tried. If we are unable to find one, we will send out another notice asking for volunteers to help transport the food to St. James’, where we can put it in our freezers.
Many in our community are still without power, and others are dealing with cleanup and the effects of the storm.
Mahalo for all the ways you have been reaching out, checking on one another, and caring for one another. This is what it means to be parish ʻohana. Please continue to check on your neighbors, especially those who live alone or may need an extra hand.
And please, if you are in need of assistance, let us know. Contact the Parish Office or reach out to me directly. We want to know how we can help.
NOTE: “Our OMG: The Great Reveal: What God Wants Us to Know About Him and What He Does” gathering, which was scheduled to begin tonight at St. Columba’s, is postponed. We will begin next Monday evening instead.
From received a Spectrum Service Alert regarding Internet access: Spectrum reports that the service outage following Hurricane Lala continues to affect our area, with restoration currently estimated for 5 PM on Wednesday, August 19.
In the meantime, mahalo to the Waimea Resilience Hub and Tutu’s House for making their Starlink WiFi available to the community. The WiFi password is posted in the window at Tutu’s House, so people can even sit in their cars and connect. They ask that people please not use the connection for streaming, so that it remains available to as many people as possible. Mahalo also to the Richard Smart Fund, which purchased the Starlink for the Waimea Resilience Hub for exactly this kind of community need.
I am grateful to report that our church properties came through with relatively little damage. At St. James’, we lost the large pepper tree along the road near the Parish Office, our corner sign was damaged, and a portion of the fencing in front of Everett’s home came down. Otherwise, we are very grateful that the damage appears to be minimal.
Mahalo to Chris Greenwell for already getting to work and taking care of the downed pepper tree and the larger limbs that came down from other trees around St. James’. We are very grateful for his help.
Reports and pictures from across the islands show that some communities have experienced significant damage. We will keep one another posted in the days ahead about ways we can be helpful to our sisters and brothers, both near and far.
We give thanks for God’s presence with us through the storm and now in the work of caring for one another in its aftermath. Please continue to hold all those affected in your prayers.
Stay safe, and mahalo for taking care of one another.
With gratitude and in Christ’s aloha,
David
The Rev. David Stout, Rector
