What began as a well-meaning effort by the Sons of the American Legion to aid the people of Hawaii shortly after the fires in Maui soon engulfed the entire American Legion in Los Alamitos, says Post 716 Commander James Eubanks.
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“The stuff started coming in and it’s kept coming,” said Eubanks this week, still dealing with issues of sorting the boxes and boxes of relief supplies that have come from people throughout the area and is now coming from other American Legion posts in California.
And on Tuesday, Eubanks said the American Legion Post in Chinatown called him with fantastic news. Through 100 individual donations, the Chinese Consolidation Benevolence Association has raised $10,000 for the Maui Fire Fund.
He said he is coordinating with key officials in Hawaii for the transfer of cash gifts.
“By plane, it’s 2,471 miles. The closest point between California and Hawaii is just 2,285 miles. There was no distance separating us when hurricane-force winds drove California-like wildfires on the Island of Maui, catching people by surprise and killing more than 110,” said Eubanks.
He said a member of the post’s Sons Squadron 716, Tom Petrillo, contacted the Post Commander on Maui. He was informed what help was needed. Eubanks said Petrillo soon Immediately contacted his Commander, Steve Working, who contacted me with the request to put the word out on our website and Facebook, which we did,” said Eubanks.
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“I must say that this is where this ride began and has not ended yet. Once the word went out via the internet, the donations began to flood in. The local response was fast, and the amount of donations was so large that they started to fill our Post building; to the point where we had to start storing items in our Social Quarters,” he said.
“We put out the call for help to the members of The American Legion Family at Los Alamitos Post 716, the Sons Squadron stepped up and went into overdrive, they were joined by members of our Riders Chapter and began re-boxing the items to prepare for shipping,” he added.
Eubanks some of the aid, which includes everything from gift cards to diapers and clothing began building up but they had to find a way to ship it to Maui.
“But shipping how? The source we thought we had notified us that they could only ship personal hygiene items. This is where I got involved (as Post Commander). I immediately put together a request for assistance and had it sent out to District 29 (as District Commander), and within hours the responses were phenomenal and have continued to come in daily,” he said.
“We have received assistance from other Posts including Newport Harbor 291, Cypress Post 295, Orange Post 132, Hollywood Post 43, and Culver City 46 to name a few. Palm Springs Post 519 even brought items to us. Throughout the Department of California, the Leadership of the Legion, Auxiliary, and the Sons have reached out to assist, as well as many other Veteran assistance programs and shipping companies,” he said.
Over the weekend, when the Post was filling up with donated supplies, Eubanks said they borrowed a member’s garage, where the overflow is being stored. In addition, he said government authorities in Hawaii have placed a brief moratorium on shipping items there.
“Apparently, they are getting too much stuff in Hawaii unsorted,” said Eubanks, so shipping companies have halted all shipments into the disaster zone. “Now,” said Eubanks, “we have to sort and ship everything a certain way.”
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In the meantime, Eubanks said he and the entire American Legion Post wanted to thank everyone who has pitched in to help.
“I just wanted to take the time to thank all of those that have joined in, and to illustrate the level of assistance that has been offered during this time of need by another Department (State). This is why I am a member of this extraordinary Veterans organization, and I am prouder yet to be part of its leadership,” he said.
“Most of the donations are already away. To my fellow members of the Legion Family, you do yourself proud. I cannot think of any other fraternal family I would be as proud to be a part of. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you.”