SAN ANTONIO, Texas (HawaiiNewsNow) - Kalani Kealoha Young and his wife Imelda live near San Antonio, Texas – thousands of miles from where they were raised on Oahu.
The City of Rockport, a Gulf Coast town less than 200 miles from San Antonio that's home to roughly 10,000 people, is a much shorter trip for the Young's. Their family visits Rockport often; being near the water makes them feel at home.
"We like to go down there because it reminds us of Hawaii, by the water and stuff," Young said.
When Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Coast on Friday, Rockport was hit with torrential rains and heavy flooding. When the system headed back into the ocean and circled around as a Tropical Storm, Rockport was hit again.
The waters still haven't subsided. At least one person was killed when the hurricane hit. Both of the places that the family typically stays at when the visit were destroyed by the storm.
That's why the town's cries for help are not going unanswered by the Youngs.
The Youngs own a Hawaiian food truck. On Sunday, they'll be driving it down to Rockport, where the plan is to give away free teri-burgers and kalua pig plate lunches... Enough, he says, to feed at least 1,000 people.
"Not only for the people, the victims, but also for the workers who are down there helping out, trying to clean up the place," Young said. "Originally, it was just her and I were gonna go down there. Now we got 20 or 30 people or more who are gonna be caravanning out there, to help the people of Rockport.”
The food was mostly purchased by Kalani and his family, but donations are allowing him to buy more. All of the money he receives will go toward buying supplies for the trip to Rockport.
Other people from Hawaii who have since relocated to Texas have caught wind of Kalani's plan and are also trying to help out. One woman, he says, donated three TVs for him to take down there.
The Young family say they are accepting donations via PayPal at samson.kealoha@yahoo.com.
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