CHRISTMAS 2026 - Holiday FUND Drive
Operation Xmas: Kaʻū Keiki
Hurricane Lala took our homes this year. It tore open our community cemetery.
It will not take Christmas.
Every keiki in Kaʻū opens a gift on Christmas morning.
Donate NowZeffy charges no platform fee, so 100% of what you give reaches Kaʻu.
Our nonprofit has been independently verified to receive charitable grants and donations through DAFgiving360, one of the largest donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsors in the USA backed by Charles Scwhab.
Tax deductible. 501(c)(3), EIN 87-4142178.
Our nonprofit has been independently verified to receive charitable grants and donations through DAFgiving360, one of the largest donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsors in the USA backed by Charles Scwhab.
Tax deductible. 501(c)(3), EIN 87-4142178.
8/17/2026. Crews work to clear trees and downed lines blocking Highway 11 in Kaʻū. The only road connecting the district to the rest of island.
What the HURRICANE left
Kaʻū is still digging out.
Families lost homes. Our community cemetery was destroyed, and our people spent weeks clearing debris that the floods carried into our streets and neighborhoods. Recovery from Hurricane Lala has been primarily an all-volunteer, community-led, effort.
Months later, parents are still rebuilding, still replacing what the storm ruined, still putting the pieces back in order. And the Christmas season is coming anyway, the way it always does.
A child does not know what a disaster declaration is. A child only knows whether there is something under the tree on Christmas morning.
Our keiki have been remarkable this year. They hauled water. They sat quiet in dark houses. They listened through the wall while their parents counted what was left, and most of them stopped asking for anything.
We are asking for them.
8/28/2026. Her birthday landed in the middle of the worst month Kaʻu has had in a generation, and she was still turning a year older anyway.
Our NHO Vice Chairman, Kauwilakalaokalani "K" Liufau, found out about her birthday, bought her a gift from Costco in Kona, drove an hour and a half to Ka'u and delivered her a present.
No charity program, no application requirement, no lengthy waiting list.
We live here, we know these families by name, and we know which houses are still hurting.
That is our mission this Holiday season.
Our NHO Vice Chairman, Kauwilakalaokalani "K" Liufau, found out about her birthday, bought her a gift from Costco in Kona, drove an hour and a half to Ka'u and delivered her a present.
No charity program, no application requirement, no lengthy waiting list.
We live here, we know these families by name, and we know which houses are still hurting.
That is our mission this Holiday season.
OUR MISSION
Every keiki in Kaʻū opens a gift on
Christmas morning.
Not most of them. Not the ones whose families filled out an application in time.
Every child in this district, from Pahala to Na'alehu to Ocean View, wakes up on December 25th with something wrapped, with their name on it.
Every child in this district, from Pahala to Na'alehu to Ocean View, wakes up on December 25th with something wrapped, with their name on it.
That is the whole goal. It is small next to everything else Kaʻu needs right now...but it is the one thing we can absolutely guarantee if enough people decide to help.
Our Campaign Goal
$25
raised of $25,000
Every dollar puts a Christmas gift in the hands of a keiki in Kaʻu..
Donate Now$25
One keiki
A gift chosen for one child, by volunteers who know that child by name.
$75
One ʻohana
Three children in the same house wake up to something. Nobody watches a sibling open the only gift.
$150
Gifts and essentials
Toys, plus the everyday things a family of four is still short on after the storm.
$500
A small classroom, 20 keiki
Our classrooms are small. Every child on that roster waking up on Christmas morning with a gift with their name on it.
Any
Whatever you can
Every amount is real here. Nothing is too small for a district this size.
One hundred percent reaches Kaʻū. We buy the gifts and we drive them down the highway ourselves.
Where your money goes
One hundred percent (100%) reaches Kaʻū. No pass-through nonprofits. No overhead fees.
We buy the gifts, drive them down the highway ourselves and deliver it directly into the hands of Ka'u families.
We know what you are wondering, because we wondered it too every time a relief organization showed up here. Where does the money go? Here is our answer, in plain numbers.
100% reaches Kaʻu
Unlike Paypal, our donation platform, Zeffy, charges no fees. The full amount you give comes to us, and it is spent in this district.
We buy it and we deliver it
No contracts, no subcontractors, no middlemen. During Hurricane Lala relief our NHO board bought supplies at the stores in Hilo and Kona and drove them down the highway ourselves. The gifts will move the same way.
We have already done this
In the first 30 days after the storm, the Foundation put 200 fuel cards into 200 separate households, and cooked and served hot meals to the Hawaiʻi National Guard soldiers and County workers who came to help Kaʻū.
The books are open
Mālama Kaʻū Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Native Hawaiian Organization, EIN 87-4142178. We publish our Form 990 every year, board compensation included. Not every organization asking you for money does.
TRUSTED NONPROFIT NHO
We were independently verified to receive charitable grants and donations through DAFgiving360, one of the largest donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsors in the USA backed by Charles Scwhab.
Led by Kaʻu, for Kaʻu
Our board is made up of Native Hawaiians born and raised in these islands, with more than 70 years of combined military leadership in disaster response. Kaʻu is not a project to us. It is our hometown. We will be here long after the other nonprofits and government agencies have left Ka'u.
December 19, 2026
A Day to Come Together and Say Thank You
When the water came, our neighbors did not wait for permission. They showed up with chainsaws, trucks, pots of food, and shovels. Along with trusted Ka'u-based nonprofits, our NHO is sponsoring a Christmas concert to thank them.
Saturday, December 19, 2026
Kaʻū Holiday Concert
Kaʻu Makahiki Fairgrounds, near Na'alehu
Outdoors, under the sky, the way Kaʻu gathers.
A free night of music for the volunteers who carried this community through Hurricane Lala, and for every family in Kaʻu who needs a reminder that the year ends in singing. Local Kaʻu musicians will share the stage with well known Hawaiian groups.
Start time and full lineup to be announced.
Aloha Pua Melia, from our annual Kaʻu Coffee Festival. One of several Ka'u musicians that will perform alongside popular Hawaiian musicians on Saturday, December 19, 2026.
12/13/2025. Ka'u keikis dancing the Hula during our annual Ka'u Taro Festival.
Somebody remembered them.
That is what a wrapped gift says on Christmas morning in a town this far from everything. Not that the storm did not happen. Just that when it did, people who had never set foot in Kaʻu decided our children mattered.
This is who you are giving to.
Our NHO learned something during the fund drive right after Hurricane Lala came through our hometown on August 15, 2026.
Every donation moved the needle, and not only the large ones.
Funds came in from people who had never set foot in Kaʻu, and it turned into fuel cards, hot meals, and families who could get through another week.
Our NHO Christmas drive works the same way. Give what you can, and then tell one other person. Be a part of giving a child in Ka'u the gift of Christmas.
Give a gift to a keikiEvery donation moved the needle, and not only the large ones.
Funds came in from people who had never set foot in Kaʻu, and it turned into fuel cards, hot meals, and families who could get through another week.
Our NHO Christmas drive works the same way. Give what you can, and then tell one other person. Be a part of giving a child in Ka'u the gift of Christmas.
CAPT Mel Yokoyama, US Navy (retired)
Chairman, Malama Kaʻu Foundation
Born and raised in Pāhala, Kaʻū
Imua.