Show gratitude when given lot of free money

We’ve been given free money — and a lot of it. To show our gratitude for the ease in which we’ve maintained our finances since the pandemic began, I encourage government fund recipients to give back to the community and volunteer some of the free time we’ve been gifted.

With so many Maui residents receiving funds to supplement layoffs or diminished work hours, we’ve been granted freedom in time abundance. We’re using this time to learn to cook, read in hammocks, spend time with family, compete in push-up challenges, play at the beach, and catch up on old projects, but like a swell building in the depths of our minds is one thing: fear. Fear of the day the

“free” money runs out, fear we’ll never be allowed to leave the island without returning to the dreaded 14-day quarantine, fear our world will cease to return to what was once considered normal, fear we’ll lose our jobs forever. For many businesses, the meeting point where the blurred purgatory of county and state regulations and significantly decreased profits meets, means permanent closures are the inevitable reality.

To get out of fear, is to get out of self. The best way to this? Give to someone else.

With a community-centric ideology on island, there’s no shortage of nonprofit organizations to choose from. What’s most important to you, to your family, to your beliefs, to your lifestyle?

Community involvement is how we stay connected and support the pulse of our island, even in uncertain times.

Tonia Ciancanelli

Kihei