WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Wiregrass Ranch High School’s football team came together to support their school counselor and be her Florida “ohana”, or “family.”  The counselor is from Hawaii and has family in Maui who lost everything in the recent fires, and the team was determined to help.

What You Need To Know

  • Wiregrass Ranch High School Football team started a donation drive for Maui fire victims 

  • The school's counselor is from Maui, and they wanted to help her family in Hawaiii

“Welcome to Hawaii, that’s what I tell all my students when they come into my office,” Allison Kanewa said. 

The aloha spirit is alive and well in her office at Wiregrass Ranch High School. Pictures of Hawaii's beautiful beaches and marine life cover every inch of the main wall. 

“I’m actually from all the islands. I went to elementary school in Oahu, middle school in Kauaʻi and high school in Maui,” said Kanewa, who was born and raised in Hawaii. 

Maui is where she considers home and where all of her family still lives, right in Lahaina, where the recent fires were.

“We lost our home.," she said. "We lost our cars, 50% of them lost their jobs because it is hotel industry or food and beverage, which was all in Lahaina town, so that was, it is very devastating.”

Photo by Fallon Silcox/Spectrum Bay News 9

When the football team saw the devastation caused by the Maui fires, they knew they wanted to help and support Kanewa however they could, so they started a donation drive, collecting items to send to Maui.

“We’re very fortunate to have such a great living area and to get so many resources here that the people over in Maui aren’t able to get right now, as well as Ms. Kanewa over here," said Travis Brown, who's on the football team. "She has family there that needs help, and she’s family with us, so we need to help her out."

They say that’s what Wiregrass Ranch is all about — ohana. 

“We are ohana, my Wiregrass ohana definitely showed up for me, and Hawaiian people, local people, we’re not out getting help, or receiving help, we’re generally the helpers helping others, so the aloha spirit is definitely real and still alive, demonstrated through the football team,” Kanewa said.

And even though Kanewa’s ohana in Maui has a long road to recovery, she said knowing how strong the aloha spirit is, even here at Wiregrass Ranch, helps get her through.  

Photo by Fallon Silcox/Spectrum Bay News 9