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In the wake of last month’s wildfires that ravaged the historic Maui town of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people, Belmont-based Taube Philanthropies announced that it had donated $1 million to the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund.

Also stepping up have been members of Maui’s Jewish community, some with Bay Area ties, who told J. they have provided housing for displaced residents and organized local fundraisers for the long road ahead.

“We are all grieving the terrible loss of life in Maui. The pain and devastation that residents are enduring is tragic,” Dianne Taube, who became president of the Taube Philanthropies earlier this year, said in a press release.

The fires destroyed more than 2,000 homes and structures and hundreds of businesses on the island’s west side. Hawaii’s Jewish governor, Josh Green, said the cost of damages could approach $6 billion.

The Hawaii Community Foundation is a major grant-making organization that distributes financial resources across the islands to nonprofits, including those offering assistance with shelter, animal and child welfare, food, medical care, and mental health and grief counseling.

“One hundred percent of the funds are distributed for community needs, which my husband, Tad, and our family greatly respect,” the Taube press release said.

The devastation in Maui hit close to home for Dianne Taube, who is a direct descendant of native Hawaiian high “chiefess” Dorcas Kalama Waha and Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer, according to Taube Philanthropies. Meyer founded an agricultural business on the Hawaiian island of Molokai in the mid-1800s.

The couple had 11 children, including Dianne’s great-grandmother Eliza, who relocated with her husband from Hawaii to the Bay Area in 1918. Dianne grew up taking family trips to Hawaii and has continued that tradition with her own family.

“Hawaii has a special place in my heart,” she said in the press release. “When the time is right, I want to help the people of Maui find ways to rebuild that honor our ancestors and the original ambiance of Lahaina.”

Taube Philanthropies also provided funding for relief efforts in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey in Texas, and has supported recovery efforts after past wildfire destruction in Northern California.

On the ground in Maui, members of the Jewish community there have been involved in wildfire relief, as well. Rabbi Sandra Razieli, a former spiritual leader at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, co-founded and leads Maui Jewish Ohana, an independent community. She told J. that some members of Ohana lost their homes in the fires, and that others are fundraising for victims. (Ohana is a Hawaiian word meaning family.)

“During these fires, a lot of local people lost their businesses and homes, and they don’t have any backup,” Razieli said.

On Sept. 4, she was back in the East Bay where she taught a fundraising yoga class to raise money for wildfire relief.

Razieli said that when tourists return to the island, she hopes they will take note of where their tourism dollars are going and invest more in local businesses, instead of funding corporate tourism.

“People can become more aware of the history and culture and traditions of Maui, so when they come to visit, they support native traditions and they support environmentally sound choices,” Razieli said. “I think right now there’s an opportunity to pay more attention to that.”

The Jewish Federations of North America last month distributed $249,000 to Jewish organizations in Maui. Razieli’s was one of them, and so was Maui Kosher Farm, run by Rabbi Mendel Zirkind and his wife, Chana. (Her brother is Rabbi Yossi Marcus of Chabad of the North Peninsula.) The couple have also conducted their own fundraiser, collecting approximately $75,000 in donations from 1,200 people.

The Zirkinds opened their space to shelter residents and tourists displaced by the wildfires. Ordinarily the farm hosts kosher dinners with Mendel Zirkind as chef.

“Tuesday night after the fires started, we had 35 people that came to stay on the farm that couldn’t get back to their hotels, or their houses were burning down,” he said in a phone interview with J. Some stayed for days, others for up to two weeks, he added.

Going forward, the Zirkinds “will assist families with funds to be able to take their families and fly to visit their loved ones on the mainland USA and Israel,” they wrote in a Sept. 7 email to supporters. “Many people still didn’t find new housing and are in FEMA and Red Cross centers. We hope to provide them with subsidies to help them cover the high cost of rent.”

On Sept. 5, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii addressed the Senate floor, imploring his colleagues to support more federal aid for wildfire relief.

“I know that the people of Maui can recover and chart a new future, but they cannot do it alone,” the Jewish senator said. “They need help from everyone, in Hawaii, here in Congress and across the country.”