About two dozen gleaming motorcycles with riders sporting the colors of different clubs pulled up to the curb fronting the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at Hilo International Airport shortly afternoon Friday.
As they dismounted their shiny steel steeds, the bikers smiled as they warmly greeted Southwest’s employees and others in the vicinity. The members of the Poe Holo Kila and Juz Us clubs were on a mission of aloha, teaming up with Southwest to spread a touch of holiday cheer to the families impacted by August’s deadly wildfires.
When they left, the bikers were accompanied by van full of toys to ship to the Valley Isle, as part of an effort dubbed Toys for Lahaina.
“This is to help out the keiki of Lahaina,” said Gilbert Hesia. “They lost a lot, and they’re hurting. This is just to give something to them.
“We come from different islands, but we’re still from the same family.”
And all in the family are affected. One of the bikers, Skip Hiapo, said his son, Ikaika Hiapo, lost his Lahaina home to the inferno.
Southwest employee Ligaya Rocha, who comes from a family of motorcyclists, helped make the connection between the airlines and the Big Island’s community-minded bikers.
“It was (Southwest’s) whole culture committee that came together,” Rocha said. “Our president, Diamond Teixeira, suggested that we could give back with this. We collected from Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, the Hilo airport staff, TSA security and us guys, Southwest Airlines, all of our employees here. And our people in Honolulu also donated for the cause.”
“When we heard about this, it was then we put a poster out,” said Pepe Romero, a local concert and event audio engineer as well as a motorcyclist. “(Poe Holo Kila) started this off and, all of a sudden, it snowballed. And we thought, what a better cause than to help those people in Lahaina. I’m just appreciative to be a part of this.”
And while a few members from a couple of clubs were present on Friday, John Silva said a much larger percentage of the two-wheeled community was involved in the gathering and distribution of the toys to Maui’s impacted families.
“There’s so many clubs,” Silva said. “There’s probably three (hundred) or four hundred people involved.”
According to Romero, the Big Island’s bikers value cooperation over competition.
“The thing I love about this ‘aina that the mainland doesn’t have is that there are about 25 different bike clubs on this island. We all wear different patches, but we all ride as one. When we get together for a common cause, we unite and we do it,” he said.
“It’s just the right thing to do.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.