CLEVELAND — For Sam Younger and his wife Josie, Hawaii is home. But before moving to the Aloha state, Sam was born and raised in Northeast Ohio.
“I was raised in Hudson, Ohio and graduated in 2001 from Hudson High School,” Sam said.
Sam’s passion for scuba diving moved him to Lahaina, Hawaii, in 2009. Sam met Josie shortly after the move.
"We've been married for about six years, and we started our own scuba diving company together, about 10 years ago,” Sam said. We just do private family certifications, guided dives, introductory first-time dives to families visiting here in Maui.”
Last week Sam and Josie had to evacuate their home after seeing never-ending black clouds of billowing smoke.
“I think we're still kind of in a state of shock,” Josie said.
Caught in the middle of the wildfires, their home on Front Street is now a total loss.
“It's gone,” Sam said. “Everything's gone.”
“We've seen pictures of the remains of what our house and it's now completely unrecognizable,” Josie said. “It still almost doesn't feel real.”
Their business, Sammy Scuba Diving, is also a total loss too.
“The little front office that's gone down on Front Street, our house is gone, all our equipment, everything is gone,” Sam said.
The wildfires have taken the lives of over 90 people and are said to be one of the worst disasters in the state's history. Sam said they were lucky to have made it out alive.
“It's been tough, the wave of emotions, but after a couple of days and realizing how we did lose everything, we do need help,” Sam said. “We do need help and not just us, but the town of Lahaina, the people, the small businesses who lost everything, the families who lost everything, the homes; we don't know where to start."
Sam's mother, who still lives in Hudson, started a GoFundMe to help Sam and Josie get back on their feet and eventually rebuild their business. So far, over $16,000 has been raised.
“The out-pour of that has been just overwhelming, and it just means so much just to that people show us that they do care,” Sam said.
Search and recovery efforts are still underway in Maui. Sam and Josie said Lahaina will rebuild, and they're staying every step of the way.
“We want to be here; we want to help rebuild when everything is said and done,” Josie said. “We want to continue to live on this beautiful island and contribute.”
If you would like to help Sam and Josie, click here.
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