Part-Time Maui Resident Oprah Pitches In on Hawaii Wildfire Relief Efforts

Oprah Winfrey is no stranger to giving a leg up to those in need, on micro and macro levels. For example, after Hurricane Katrina, she built a community in Houston for displaced people who had lost their homes, contributed millions of dollars of her own, and coordinated millions more in donations from others.

Now, she’s pitching in to help with relief efforts in the Maui wildfires—a disaster that’s incredibly close to home for the media mogul. Oprah lives part-time on the island and owns more than 2,000 acres of land there; Jeff Bezos, Steven Tyler, Clint Eastwood, and Peter Thiel, among others, also own homes there. The death toll from the disaster is at 55 and is expected to rise, local officials have said. More than 11,000 people have fled their homes.

Oprah, rightfully, called the disaster “overwhelming,” arriving at Maui’s War Memorial Stadium on Thursday to help hand out supplies at the relief station. She came to the relief site twice that day, first to see what was going on and make her strategy, then to distribute supplies.

“I came earlier just to see what people needed then went shopping because often, you know, you make donations of clothes or whatever and it’s not really what people need,” she told reporters. “So I actually went to Walmart and Costco and got pillows, shampoo, diapers, sheets, pillowcases.”

She said though she found the scene “overwhelming,” people are pulling together to try and help. “I’m really pleased to have so many people supporting… bringing what they can and doing what they can,” she said.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather is also helping out, TMZ reported: The outlet says that he paid to evacuate 68 families from the island, and that he’s helping provide clothing and other essentials to them. Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, will be making donations, she posted on her Instagram stories.

Former president Barack Obama, who was born in Honolulu, shared on social media that it was “tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawai’i,” and included a link for donations.