The Lahaina Restoration Foundation recently received a $30,000 contribution from the Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii and Lahaina Shingon Mission. Pictured here are (from left) the Reve. Takayuki Meguro, Bishop Clark Watanabe, Theo Morrison, Alice Watanabe and Dorothy Oshiro. Photo courtesy Lahaina Shingon Mission

The Lahaina Restoration Foundation received a nice surprise when the nonprofit group secured a recent $30,000 donation.

According to the foundation, the contribution from the Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii and Lahaina Shingon Mission was unexpected and will be used to support the ongoing restoration of Lahaina’s historic sites following the August 2023 wildfires.

The donation stems from a larger fundraising initiative launched in response to the 2023 Maui wildfires by the Headquarters of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism in Koyasan, Japan, and the Kongobuji Head Temple.

The campaign was inspired by the teachings of Kobo Daishi and the principle of Saise Rinin, or “benefitting people by improving society.”

The Lahaina Restoration expressed its gratitude for the help in a Friday news release thanking Bishop Clark Zenkyu Watanabe of the Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaiʻi and the Rev. Takayuki Meguro of the Lahaina Shingon Mission.

“We are very appreciative of this generous donation and look forward to the day when the Lahaina Shingon Mission and the Baldwin Home Museum can be rebuilt and continue to be mutually beneficial neighbors in historic Lahaina Town,” said Theo Morrison, executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation.

The Lahaina Restoration Foundation is a nonprofit whose mission is to be stewards and storytellers of Lahaina’s historic and cultural heritage.

The foundation manages a number of historic sites in Lahaina, but almost all of them were severely damaged or destroyed in the fire.

For more information or to support the foundation’s rebuilding efforts, visit www.lahainarestoration.org.