Patriots’ Jahlani Tavai says he’s doing as much as he can to raise awareness for Maui wildfires
"It's tough being out here and you're so far away from the island. You can't do much but just pray," said Tavai.
Wearing a black University of Hawaii football long sleeve t-shirt with green letters, Jahlani Tavai used a portion of his time at the podium on Thursday to raise awareness for the damage caused by wildfires in Maui.
“I’m not sure if everybody saw, but there’s a big fire out there in Maui,” Tavai said. “I’ve had a lot of family and friends who lost their homes in the fires… It’s a big tragedy right now. A lot of people lost their lives and I’m just trying to bring awareness to it.”
The death toll from the fires stands at 53 at the time of publication, making it the second deadliest fire in the United States in a century according to CNN.
Tavai, who played college football in Hawaii, said he’s rounding up donations to send to the island.
“There’s a lot of GoFundMe’s, I’m trying to get a lot of donations: clothes, diapers, whatever we can get our hands on, to send out there.” Tavai said. “So, as much as I can do, I’m going to do,” But, yeah, it’s tough being out here and you’re so far away from the island. You can’t do much but just pray.
So, right now it was nice to be out there,” Tavai continued. “To play football because it got my mind off of that and allowed me and the other guys to just go out there and have fun, you know? Not think about what’s going on out in the world, but just be free and play football.”
The fires were 80 percent contained by Thursday morning, according to a news release from Maui County officials. CNN reports that the fires destroyed 1,700 buildings, left more than 10,000 people without power and caused billions of dollars in losses.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com