Hawaii born Ilima-Lei Macfarlane is a professional MMA fighter who now lives in San Diego and runs the Nā Wahine Toa Foundation. When she heard of the fires in Maui, she knew she had to help in some way.
"I really didn't think it was going to be this big," she said.
She started by calling on her social media followers to help raise money.
"I put my initial goal as like $10,000 ... and I was like, 'Oh, we'll be happy with just ... anything that we can send,' and it ended up exploding overnight," Macfarlane said. "We got to $1 million in less than 24 hours."
She now has raised more than $2 million.
She will be working with Maui County to distribute the funds.
But Macfarlane also knew resources in Maui would be scarce following the fires, so she started a local donation drive for essential supplies.
She planned on collecting items all month, but the support from San Diegans was so overwhelming that she had to start turning donations away.
"It is such a beautiful thing that happens in truly dark times," Macfarlane said. "I don't see anybody's political beliefs. I don't see anybody's skin color. I don't see anybody's whatever they believe in. It's just pure love that I see, and appreciation and gratitude."
Macfarlane and friends organized and drove the donations to a shipping container in Long Beach on Sunday. The container will be delivered to Maui.
While MacFarlane is no longer accepting supplies, she is still raising money because Maui residents will need all the support they can get.
"We're not out of the darkness yet," Macfarlane said. "In fact, it's almost becoming even more tragic now that people are are looking for their families, and they're identifying the bodies."
