Maui's Filipino community and Koinonia Pentecostal Church provide meals for wildfire survivors

Sep. 13—A hot Filipino meal is good for the soul.

A hot Filipino meal is good for the soul.

It's one of the ways Koinonia Pentecostal Church is offering comfort and a taste of home to its Filipino members and the larger community who lost so much in the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire.

Pastor Eric Arquero said free meals are provided on a drive-thru basis on "Filipino Food Mondays " from 5 p.m. until the food runs out. One hundred meals were served the first day and increased to 150 the following Monday. As word spreads, the church hopes to feed more.

Twelve families of the church's membership lost their homes, and without kitchens of their own and no access to ingredients because of road closures, they no longer could make the food they grew up eating. A lot of them knew their houses weren't there, "but there's still a sense of wanting to go home, " he said.

Inviting them to come and get a hot Filipino meal is "a way for us to give them the comfort of home, " said Arquero, who is one in a family of five pastors, along with his parents, an aunt and an uncle.

His mother, Estrella Arquero, and Koinonia Pentecostal Church received national media attention for sheltering evacuees under its roof the week after the fire decimated the historic town. Lahaina is 5 miles away from the church, located in Honokowai.

In the first few days of the fire, about 25 people who lost their homes, some of them church members, sought safety at Koinonia, he said. They slept in the main sanctuary, the three-bedroom parsonage and the small Sunday school room. (The pastors also slept upstairs.) They were fed mostly on canned food because road closures made it difficult to get fresh supplies. Eric Arquero's sister, a nurse who lives with her family next door, also contributed food and helped people with medical issues.

After a week the evacuees found shelter at hotels and with relatives. Luckily, none of the church members lost loved ones in the disaster, Arquero said.

Nigel Nido, who plays drums for the church's worship service, lost his home in the fire. He was put in charge of cooking the meals to give him and other displaced members a sense of purpose, Like so many, Nido and his family are staying at a hotel, but he's not working because hotels in the area are still closed to tourists.

The church also brings together just its members for meals on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The pastors thought the meals would also "give people a reason to gather so they wouldn't just be cooped up in their hotel rooms all day, and (it would ) give them a chance to share their stories, talk about what they're going through, " said Arquero. "And at the same time, we've been able to provide information about resources, whether it be financial or housing assistance, how to replace passports, IDs " and the like.

The pastors intend to make the church a community hub and are collecting donations on its Facebook page to buy food and other necessities. Using social media, they hope to draw more people to their Monday community meal service. To make a donation, visit 808ne.ws /koinoniagive.

"We understand our purpose is to help people heal and find comfort in God, to provide a safe place for healing, " Arquero said.