NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The Maui wildfires were some of the biggest disasters to have been witnessed by America in recent years. While a lot was lost and destroyed because of the incessant burning of the islands, rescue, and volunteer operations have been helping the survivors rebuild their lives bit by bit.
'Fox & Friends' host Will Cain has revealed one such operation that he was a part of called Task Force Lahaina, which aimed to fulfill the needs of all affected by the disaster beyond just sustenance.
In a thread on X, formerly Twitter, the morning show host took his followers through the journey of making the operation successful.
Will Cain was offered planes to use for the Maui Islands
As someone who has had a familial connection to the islands, Cain had been sharing updates and individual stories on the grave situation of the Hawaiian disaster.
Now, he has also shared his contribution to the success of Task Force Lahaina, which helped many products reach the people of Maui.
Las Vegas Sands, a gaming company, had connected with the Fox News host with the intention to do their part in supporting Maui Islands' restoration back to normal. For this, the company donated their private planes, "usually reserved for high stakes gamblers," to transport any goods to the island.
Cain claimed that they were the "Nicest planes I’ve ever seen. 747, two stories, bedrooms, beautiful, top quality," but he was not sure what to do with them.
He was then roped into Task Force Lahaina by army veteran Scott Mann, with whom he had connected through 'Fox & Friends'.
Lifestyle expert helps get $1M worth of goods for Maui
Cain then contacted a lifestyle expert named Carey Reilly, who not only helped the operation by figuring out the needs of the Maui citizens but also got multiple companies to donate as well.
He wrote, "But now we had to figure out what to put on the plane. What were the needs? What could we get? One day after the show I asked lifestyle expert Carey Reilly to see if she could get a company to donate air purifiers."
"Carey, a badass, took it, ran with it, and got about 16 companies to donate almost 30 tons (over 50,000 lbs) and 1m worth of needed goods!" Cain's tweet read.
An e-recycle company also got involved in donating electronic devices like phones and tablets to the affected people.
The operation volunteers were sought out through Fill The Needs, a community of volunteers for disaster relief operations like the one in Maui. Cain was able to reach the goal along with his team by connecting with a pastor, who then looked over the further distribution of the goods all over the islands.
Cain emphasized how this was purely an effort made by American citizens, saying, "In summary, this was a bottom up, American citizen, vet and volunteer, charity driven effort that stepped up in the failure of top down bureaucracy."
He concluded, "So much giving. Americans helping Americans. It was beautiful, I was honored to be a part of it, and it will restore your faith in America."
