Folsom business donates proceeds to Maui fires relief efforts
FOLSOM — Local businesses in our region are stepping up and donating proceeds from their sales to the Hawaii wildfire relief efforts.
Big Wave Coffeehouse in Folsom is sending help from an ocean away. When news of the devastation in Maui hit, the Hawaiian-themed business felt a call to action.
"Really, I just had customers coming in asking how they could help," said Big Wave owner Mindy Valeria.
Valeria wanted to do more than just thoughts and prayers, so she decided to donate half of the shop's Saturday sales to the fire victims.
"We've had people coming in all the way from Elk Grove to support," she told CBS Sacramento.
For customers like Lahaina native Sergio Jaimes-Vigaray, that support means everything. It's been a heartbreaking week as his friends and family from home update him on the status of the island.
"You see stuff on TV as far as natural disasters and you feel for the people, but actually living and being through it, it's actually surreal," he said.
As businesses like Big Wave Coffeehouse step up, it's a reminder of love and compassion.
"The aloha is not just something that's said, it's something that's felt," Jaimes-Vigaray said. "So I've been feeling aloha everywhere."
