Eight months after debris was removed, in November of 2024, committee members were able to view the area where the temple building once stood.
VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 1 • MARCH 2025
MAUI WILDFIRE RELIEF AND RECOVERY
Lahaina Leaders Determined, United in Their Commitment to Rebuilding
BY MICHAEL MUNEKIYO,
CHAIR LAHAINA HONGWANJI RECOVERY AND REBUILDING COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, WAILUKU HONGWANJI MISSION
The Maui wildfires of August 2023 devastated the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, leaving its temple, school building, office, social hall, kitchen and minister’s residence destroyed.
While still dealing with the traumatic effects of the fire, members of the Lahaina Hongwanji sangha are now looking to the future.
The cleanup of the temple grounds by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was completed in November 2024, and efforts are now underway to reimagine the campus for generations to come.
The leaders and members of the sangha have demonstrated remarkable resilience.
Reverend Ai Hironaka and temple President Aileen Cockett have been at the forefront of the rebuilding process.
Working with the Honpa Hongwanji’s Lahaina Hongwanji Recovery and Rebuilding Committee and a strategic planning Ad Hoc Subcommittee, sangha leaders and members have identified both opportunities and challenges for the campus’ reconstruction.
As of December 2024, two strategic planning sessions have been held with the Lahaina Hongwanji board and key sangha members, along with several meetings of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee and ongoing internal communications among the temple’s leadership and members.
Though the process is complex, the sangha has embraced it as an essential step for healing and strengthening.
Inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state’s HI-EMA agency accompanied members of the Recovery and Rebuilding Committee including Thomas Fujita, far left, as they examined the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission campus a year ago on March 11 and 12, 2024.
To Rebuild or Not to Rebuild: A Question of Why?
The first strategic planning session, held on Sept. 1, 2024, included the Lahaina Hongwanji board and key sangha members.
Facilitated by Ad Hoc Subcommittee member Cindy Alm, the primary goal of the meeting was to determine whether the sangha wished to embark on a campus rebuilding program, and if so, why?
The majority of participants expressed support for the idea of rebuilding. However, the discussion did not address specific physical elements of the campus that should be rebuilt.
Sangha members shared their reasons for choosing to rebuild:
- The need for a Buddhist presence on West Maui to share Amida’s wisdom and compassion.
- Lahaina Hongwanji is a spiritual home for members to connect with Nembutsu teachings and journey together.
- The Temple holds potential to once again serve as a community gathering place for West Maui residents to support one another.
- There is a deep sense of gratitude for the temple’s founders who built Lahaina Hongwanji.
While rebuilding is the preferred course of action, the sangha recognizes the challenges involved in sustaining a new campus, including its aging and declining membership and the attendant long-term financial implications.
Consequently, the Lahaina Hongwanji board and key members agreed that any rebuilding plan, regardless of scale, must include a realistic financial sustainability strategy.
Financial and Operational Sustainability
A second strategic planning session was held on Nov. 2, 2024 to explore financial and operational sustainability options to support the rebuilding effort.
The discussion focused on the following guiding question: If Lahaina Hongwanji is fully or partially rebuilt, what financial and operational strategies could ensure the project’s viability?
Several ideas emerged as potential immediate, midterm and long-term solutions:
- Renting out the temple’s commercial kitchen to community groups
- Renting temple meeting space to community organizations
- Establishing day care programs (e.g., adult day care, preschool, afterschool programs)
- Commercial uses (e.g., office space, compatible retail)
- Commercial renting of temple parking stalls
Other ideas, such as workforce housing apartments were discussed but deemed less viable due to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) funding reimbursement criteria, which requires rebuilding structures to pre-fire conditions.
Next Steps
Although specific master plan design concepts have not yet been developed, key redevelopment criteria are being discussed with the Lahaina Hongwanji sangha.
These include FEMA reimbursement criteria and funding requirements for the reconstruction program, priorities for rebuilding specific structures (e.g., the temple building, former school building, office building, etc.), and programming options that best support sustainability alternatives.
The rebuilding process for Lahaina Hongwanji is being approached deliberately and thoughtfully, with the aim of reaching a consensus-based plan that results in a preferred campus redevelopment concept.
Once this concept is identified, more detailed and equally complex steps toward implementation—such as design development, county permitting processes and funding programming—will follow.
Although this process may take time, the sangha’s leadership is committed to ensuring that member input is respected and valued.
Above all, they believe that this process honors the Nembutsu spirit of Lahaina Hongwanji’s founders and past generations of members.