The media mogul shared a video to social media after spending time at a Hawaii evacuation center assisting people in the wake of one of the U.S.’ deadliest fires in years.
Oprah Winfrey is responding to the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, promising to make a “major donation” to help support the people and communities affected by the disaster.
Winfrey made her statements regarding the natural disaster in a video uploaded to her Oprah Daily social media account, where the media icon speaks directly to the camera about the fires and her recent experience spending time in evacuation centers amongst the people affected by it, People Magazine reported.
“You know what this week has taught me is that when you don’t know what to do … you do whatever you can,” she says in the video. The part-time resident of Maui then goes on to recall her time at the War Memorial Stadium, saying she went shopping for basic necessities like towels, sheets and shampoo after asking people what they needed.
“And at some point, I will make a major donation after all of the smoke and ash have settled here, and we figure out what the rebuilding is going to look like,” Winfrey tells viewers before acknowledging it is going to be a “long and difficult process.”
She then shares the story of a man named Julius, who Winfrey spent time with at the shelter, a blaze victim who barely escaped the fires and suffered major burns on his legs: “When I said, ‘Tell me what you need,’ he said, ‘Ma’am, I need nothing. My life is now my greatest gift. I have my life.’”
The island’s rebuilding will have just begun long after the rest of the world has moved on, says Winfrey, also calling the Hawaiian people “a strong cultural people and a family-loving people.”
“With the help and support,” she notes, “you’re going to hear a lot of Phoenix stories rising from the ashes here.”
As theGrio previously reported, the Hawaii fire, which started on Tuesday, was fueled by strong winds from a passing hurricane and a particularly dry summer. As of Monday morning, the death toll from the fire has risen to 96, per The Washington Post, in what is one of the deadliest fires in the U.S. in years.
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