EDITOR'S NOTE: After riding a wave of prosperity, Maui County residents are struggling to cope with a recession that has swept through the islands. In The Maui News' continuing series of stories on the islands' financial crisis, today's report tells the personal stories of residents surviving these tough times. On Wednesday, the series looks at how thrift shops and consignment stores are faring; and even family pets are being affected as their owners in many cases are being forced to give them up.
The numbers paint the broad picture of how the national recession has battered Maui County: visitor arrivals down nearly 25 percent in a two-year period; more than four of 10 hotel rooms unoccupied in May; millions less in visitor spending; and unemployment at 9 percent on Maui, 11.5 percent on Lanai and 13.6 percent on Molokai.
But the numbers don't tell the stories of people trying to get by financially in one of the deepest economic downturns to hit the islands, at least in recent memory.
As part of The Maui News' series about the island's financial crisis, staff writers sought out these stories. But they weren't easy to come by. Understandably, people weren't eager to share how they've been struggling to pay bills or find enough work to make ends meet.
But a few agreed to tell their stories.
They include: Kihei resident Sherr Ruane, who lost her job with a roofing contractor last year and has used up her savings while remaining unemployed; Paia resident Carlos Van Dorland, a single father and grandfather who's having trouble finding enough work to help support his two adult daughters and two grandchildren while trying to save his home from foreclosure (see story); and 16-year-old Rhea Agdeppa, who cares for her three younger sisters and looks for work to help her mother who has lost working hours at a Wailea resort hotel.
Their stories all share a common thread - an ability to find ways to survive whatever the economic downturn has thrown at them.
