Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancé and entertainment reporter Lauren Sánchez are joining the growing list of celebrities supporting Maui amid the deadly wildfires that have been raging since Tuesday.
Sánchez revealed on Instagram on Friday that the “heartbroken” duo are contributing $100 million for a years-long recovery.
Though displaced people need water, food, clothing, and shelter, they know it will take more than a few news cycles to recover. Celebrities like Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa have shared ways for his followers to donate on social media, while Oprah Winfrey, who owns 2,000 acres on the island, is there buying and distributing goods.
Bezos, the world's third-richest person, bought a 14-acre property on South Maui's La Perouse Bay for $78 million in 2021
It's unclear how the Maui Fund will work, but it's a much-needed present for a city where the flames have killed 67 people, the most in state history.
Sánchez wrote on Instagram: “We are thinking of all the families that have lost so much and a community that has been devastated.”
“The immediate needs and the longer-term rebuilding that will have to happen — even after much of the attention has subsided,” she wrote
Jeff and I are forming a Maui Fund and dedicating $100 million to help Maui recover now and in the future as needs arise.”