BA: Where were you both when you heard the news of the fires? And what was your immediate next step?
Mark “Gooch” Noguchi: Part of being an active member of your community is knowing your place. Hawaiʻi is my home, but Maui isn’t my moku [Hawaiian for island or district]. Even though I have my crew there, it’s still their island. On Wednesday morning, I see my phone on and I’m like, who the hell’s texting me at 3 a.m.? It’s dozens of texts. “Lahaina’s gone.” “We need help.” I give my wife Amanda another hour of sleep, and then I tell her, “We gotta get going. We gotta activate.”
We spent the next five minutes losing our shit, then we started making calls. World Central Kitchen had emailed me already and Amanda started talking to the National Guard and civil defense. Your knee-jerk reaction is to rush over there, drop everything and go. But we realized the best way we could serve our community was to stay in Honolulu, make calls, and be a conduit for our friends.
Kyle Kawakami: That first week of the fire, it was a lot of confusion, a lot of chaos. The roads were closed, but by Saturday, at 7 a.m., police escorted my food truck through, like we were a presidential motorcade. When we got to Lahaina, we went straight to the community. I parked on the main thoroughfare, opened our windows, and started playing music. We were feeding the community as best we could. We had 400 hot bentos, 100 watermelons, and 70 cases of water, plus some emergency medical supplies. I think we were probably one of the first to get into the actual burn zone. It was still smoldering.
BA: What was a typical day like as an early responder?
KK: We knew this wasn’t just a two-day response. This was the long haul, and so my role was just to make sure the boys [chefs Sheldon Simeon, Isaac Bancaco, and many more on the ground] were okay.
We had guys in the trenches in the kitchen of Maui College, putting in 18-, 20-hour days. They would leave at midnight and come back at 4 a.m., or even sleep on the floor, to make a thousand breakfasts. At 6 a.m., another group of 20 or 30 volunteers started on lunch and had to get 4,000 packed. Then the next group was rolling in and doing 6,000 dinners. We had a group of chefs that came in to organize and clean.
Having taught at the college 10 years prior, I had a good understanding of the lay of the land and could help advise on the most efficient way to use the kitchen on campus, like, “Hey store this food here if you’re not using until three days out,” or “Use this equipment.” Having Gooch and Amanda, these extra eyes from the outside, was helpful.
MGN: Maybe a week after, Amanda and I came up to Maui. When you have a million people who want to help but not a whole lot of guidance, things can get convoluted, especially when working with these big organizations that mean well. Our war board, [listed] products coming in, what we could use, what we could hold. HFM FoodService [now Sysco Hawaiʻi] would call, saying “Hey, we’ve got 10,000 pounds of this,” or Rainbow’s Drive-In says, “We’re bagging up 6,000 pounds of chili. Do you want them in Ziploc bags?” That’s not something Sheldon, Isaac, or Uncle Reinior [Simeon’s father] need to do; I can do that, you know what I mean? That’s knowing your lane.
