It is tough to sing when your heart is breaking.
"I just need to know that my friends are OK and that my family is OK," Darren Lopez said.
Lopez is a lifetime entertainer and singer with deep ties to the historic town of Lahaina in Maui. He went to school there and calls it a second home.
Same for Annie Patricio.
"Uncle Darren is still waiting to hear about some family, but thankfully, I just heard news that my auntie is alive, thank God," Patricio said.
They both have so many loved ones who’ve lost everything in the wildfire, the deadliest in modern U.S. history.
Patricio says her cousin, whose young son was recently diagnosed with cancer, lost their home.
A fundraiser has been started to help the family.
Both Lopez and Patricio are members of the Polynesian Arts Council of Cleveland, and they're taking action to help Hawaii.
"No matter how far we are from each other, we'll come together, and we'll try to help," Lopez said. "That's just the love that we share, the aloha that we share amongst each other."
Lopez is the musician for Pacific Paradise Entertainment, a Polynesian dance group in Cleveland that specializes in Hawaiian hula and Tahitian dancing.
"We knew we had to do something, and we knew exactly what to do," said Audrey Godoy, artistic director of Pacific Paradise Entertainment and a cardiologist nurse practitioner.
In fact, that's how she met Lopez, by taking care of him in the hospital. He says that’s where they found friendship, shared culture and a love for performance.
The dance group will be holding a benefit luau for Maui.
There will be a traditional Hawaiian feast, live music, a raffle and, of course, a dance performance.
Inlet Dance Theater on Cleveland's west side is offering them this space for free.
The aloha spirit is a gift they give freely, and it pulls you in.
"The family needs help, and we're going to try our darndest to help them," Godoy said.
They call it ohana or family, and no one is left behind. The love they share for each other is humbling and touching.
"I may not know you, but you know what? I'll call you my brother, or I'll call you my sister," Lopez said.
The aloha spirit is what comforts and helps heal, and despite the pain, Lopez says he knows Maui, too, will sing again.
"I love you all," he said after finishing a song about Lahaina at practice for the benefit. "Bless you all."
The benefit Lauau for Maui relief in Cleveland will be Saturday, Aug. 26, at 5 p.m.
Tickets for the fundraiser are $70 and can be found here. Organizers say kids aged from six to 12 are $35, and children five and younger are free.
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