Amanda joined Kalani's effort at the park on August 14th bringing to the team her background in community organizing. By the end of that day there was an online sign up form to help organize volunteers, the next day a Facebook group, and by the end of the week, a website. Having a strong presence online helped volunteers and donors find CoconutLine as a place they could come to lend a hand.
In the early weeks of the tent operations Amanda captured some of her stories and thoughts in personal blog posts, which you can read here. In her writing and videos she captured both the optimism and the frustration being felt from the daily experiences of running the tent.
"August 26th - ...We have first-hand seen how the true help and support during this crisis is coming directly from neighbors helping neighbors. While some of the supposed “experts” trip over themselves and seem to add to the challenge rather than the relief. It became obvious very quickly that not only is there an immediate need to self-organize for this disaster, but to be prepared and experienced to help one another at all times moving forward. Let this be the lesson to all other islands and communities. Anyone who is able should come take the opportunity to see first-hand what groups like ours are doing and how there are so many moving parts to being able to support one another in the first few hours, first few days, first few weeks, first few months.
We’ve been saying since the early days of this how it is important to remember recovery and care for those hurting is going to be a marathon not a sprint. I’m now adding to that the idea that it is a “relay race” type of marathon where we need the next group of compassionate and ready donors and volunteers to be ready to step up and give relief to those who have been running this first leg of it. The specific needs and time and dollars might slightly change as we progress, but there will no doubt be need. Knowing that we have additional rounds of help on the way will allow some of us to rest for a bit."
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