160 file for Maui financial assistance

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KAHULUI, Maui — Scores of Maui County residents hurting financially because of the Sept. 11 attacks applied for assistance yesterday on the first day of a new $1.5 million emergency relief program.

The first of the vouchers — estimated to average $460 per household — are expected to be issued today to people who qualify for the program known as the Hawai'i Emergency Laulima Partnership, or HELP.

Mayor James "Kimo'' Apana delivered a $300,000 check yesterday morning to the offices of Maui Economic Opportunity Inc., the nonprofit agency administering the three-month program.

The check represents the initial installment for the county in underwriting a program intended to provide temporary assistance to people who lost their jobs or whose work hours have been reduced since Sept. 11.

To qualify for the program, one must be a Maui County resident who can prove a financial hardship that arose since Sept. 11.

MEO spokesman Tom Blackburn-Rodriguez said 160 heads of households applied for assistance yesterday, a number that represents an estimated 630 people.

There was a morning rush for relief yesterday, he said, but the pace slowed to a steady stream of applicants by afternoon. Many of the applicants parked at the Ichiro "Iron'' Maehara Baseball Stadium at the War Memorial Complex and took a shuttle to the MEO offices in Kahului.

Twenty-four other nonprofit agencies across Maui County also were accepting applications yesterday.

Blackburn-Rodriguez said an ad campaign will begin today to help spread the word about the program. The goal is to provide an estimated 3,000 vouchers averaging $460 each to help financially strapped workers with housing, food, utility and medical expenses. The program is also open to people who are self-employed.

Blackburn-Rodriguez said more than 3,000 Maui County residents have applied for unemployment benefits since the Sept. 11 attacks. Many of them work at hotels and other tourism-related businesses where workers have been laid off and others have had their hours scaled back.

People who qualify for assistance will receive checks made out directly to vendors, along with vouchers redeemable only at grocery stores. The vouchers cannot be used to purchase alcohol or tobacco.

The goal for MEO is a 24-hour turnaround from application to the issuance of vouchers, Blackburn-Rodriguez said.

County money supporting the program is being drawn from public service company tax revenue that the council earlier placed into a "rainy day'' fund.