Hawaii
Here’s What Happened To Jeff Bezos’ $100 Million Pledge Toward Hawaii’s Recovery
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos andLauren Sánchez, his fiance
The Amazon founder made a very public commitment to help rebuild Maui after the August wildfires. Here’s the progress since then.
Last August, days after wind-propelled wildfires destroyed whole neighborhoods and killed 100 people on the Hawaiian island of Maui, billionaire Jeff Bezos’ fiancé Lauren Sánchez announced that the couple was launching a $100 million fund for Maui wildfire relief.
“Jeff and I are heartbroken by what’s happening on Maui. …The immediate needs are important, and so is the longer term rebuilding that will have to happen–even after much of the attention has subsided,” Sánchez wrote in a post on Instagram. The couple know the island well; Bezos has a home on Maui to the south of where the fires hit.
But in the months that followed the tragic fires, details about the distribution of that $100 million fund were nonexistent. Until now.
Neal Karlinsky, a spokesperson for Bezos, told Forbes that nine Hawaii-based charities have been given a total of $15.5 million from the Bezos Maui Fund, including the Boys and Girls Club of Maui and the Maui Food Bank.
Marlene Rice, development director at the Maui Food Bank, would not disclose the amount that her organization received. But she said via email that “The Maui Food Bank has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Jeff Bezos in helping the hungry in Maui County. We are extremely grateful to him and Lauren Sanchez … Their most recent generous gift …[is] allowing us to provide essential support to the community during these challenging times.”
The other recipients to date are the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, Maui Humane Society, Lele Aloha and Hawaii Green Growth, both environmental protection and rehabilitation nonprofits; the Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership, which works to restore dryland forests on Maui; the Kahalawai Watershed Partnership, which helps protect Hawaii’s natural waterways; and the East Maui Watershed Partnership, a forest preservation organization.
The Maui Humane Society, Hawaii Green Growth, and Kahalawai Watershed Partnership confirmed that they received donations, but did not disclose the amount they received.
Bezos’ spokesperson Karlinsky declined to reveal how much each charity received. More funding will be distributed, Karlinsky clarified: “As the original announcement made clear, the $100 million will be gifted over the coming years as the continuing needs reveal themselves.”
Bezos, who is currently the third richest person in the world worth about $192 billion, owns a home on an estimated 14 acres of land on Maui worth $78 million. He also lent his helicopter to the Maui fire department, which it used to shuttle workers to affected areas where land and sea access was unfeasible. “The Maui Fire Department would like to express a big mahalo to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez for their extremely generous offer to use their helicopter since August 13th,” the Maui Fire Department said in an Instagram post in September.
Bezos is one of several billionaires and celebrities who donated millions to aid the fire recovery efforts. Oprah Winfrey, also a Maui property owner, donated $10 million to the Peoples Fund of Maui, which she set up with actor Dwayne Johnson.
Bezos’ biggest philanthropic commitment is the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion pledge over a decade with the goal of driving climate solutions. He announced the fund in early 2020 and to date the Earth Fund made a total of $1.85 billion in grants. Bezos also supports tuition-free preschools for low-income families through Bezos Academies; the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund gives to groups that help homeless families find a permanent home and services. His charitable donations to date make him one of the biggest philanthropists in the U.S., per Forbes’ new list of America’s Biggest Givers. But his charitable giving as a percent of his net worth is still in the low single digits.
BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. and Chinese militaries this week held “frank and constructive” maritime security talks, the Chinese navy said on Saturday, as the two superpowers gradually restore military-to-military communications after several months of trade tensions.
The working-level meetings took place November 18-20 in Hawaii, according to a posting on the official social media account of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
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“The two sides had frank and constructive exchanges … mainly exchanging views on the current maritime and air security situation between China and the U.S.,” China’s navy said in its posted statement.
China also criticised U.S. freedom-of-navigation operations in the statement. These are frequently carried out in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, international waters over which China claims sovereignty.
“China … resolutely opposes any infringement and provocation,” China’s navy said in its statement, referring to those maritime and overflight transits by U.S. forces.
Both sides also discussed “typical cases of naval and air encounters between the two militaries … to help the front-line naval and air forces of China and the U.S. interact more professionally and safely,” it said.
China has been steadily boosting air, naval and coast guard deployments around democratically-governed Taiwan, which it claims as its own. Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claims of sovereignty over the island.
The Pentagon has been pushing for improved communications with China over its military modernisation and regional posture, calling for greater transparency on its nuclear weapons build-up and more theatre-level discussions with military commanders.
The working group will have a follow-up meeting in 2026, the statement said.
Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Tom Hogue
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
In 2012, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison acquired 98% of Lānaʻi, a rural island off Maui known for its rural, upcountry vibe (there’s only about 30 miles of paved roads) and its two Four Seasons–operated hotels: the 213-room Four Seasons Lānaʻi and the 96-room, wellness-focused Sensei Lānaʻi. The latter, created in partnership with Ellison’s own hospitality brand, Sensei, is powered by the cutting-edge research of renowned oncologist and professor Dr. David Agus, whose philosophy centers on three pillars: Move, Rest, and Nourish. Surrounded by pine-covered mountains and blending Hawaiian and Japanese design influences, this adults-only retreat is conceived as a distraction-free sanctuary—a place to disappear for a few days and focus wholly on your health. “I stayed at both Four Seasons’ properties when I visited Lanai a few years ago; my time at both, but especially at Sensei, felt like a reverie,” shopping director Talia Abbas shares. “An oasis in every sense of the word, you feel the weight of the world lifted off your shoulders surrounded by the lush greenery and the serene mountain air.”
The experience begins with a biomarker session, a body-composition analysis, and a one-on-one consultation with a nutritionist. Additional tech-driven assessments may follow, from thermal body scans to pinpoint inflammation to HRV monitoring for a closer look into a guest’s physiological state. “The consultation took place in one of the privates hales, and was followed up by a massage targeting the inflammation, and a soak in the private onsen pool,” Abbas shares. “I’ve never felt more relaxed.” The “Move” component can take many forms: horseback riding through cook-pine forests, aerial yoga, tackling obstacles in the outdoor adventure park, or simply wandering the resort’s vast sculpture garden, dotted with large-scale works by artists like Fernando Botero and Jaume Plensa. Yet for many guests, the highlight is the spa. Ten standalone spa hales are each outfitted with ofuro soaking tubs, infrared saunas, and outdoor onsen pools—inviting hours of relaxation post-treatment day and night.
🌋TRIPLE THREAT: Watch Kilauea, a volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island, experience three eruption episodes over less than a two month span. Nearly 40 of these episodes have occurred since December, and models project another could happen as soon as next week.
KILAUEA, Hawaii – Cameras on one of Hawaii’s Big Island volcanoes have captured a stunning timelapse of the mountain’s three previous eruption episodes.
Kilauea, which stands 4,091 feet above sea level, has been actively seeing these events since December 23, 2024, with the last three episodes happening over just a 39-day span.
SEE IT: LAVA SHOOTS NEARLY 1,500 FEET HIGH DURING KILAUEA VOLCANO’S EXPLOSIVE 35TH EPISODE
The most recent episode from the mountain’s Halemaʻumaʻu crater began on November 9 at 11:15 am local time, and lasted around 5 hours long, ending at 4:16 pm local time.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) the latest eruption sent lava spewing over 500 feet high from the crater’s north vent, with fountains in the south vent reaching about one-third that height.
HOW TO WATCH HAWAII’S KILAUEA VOLCANO ERUPTION
“All eruptive activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park; commercial airports in Hawaii County (KOA and ITO) will not be affected by this activity,” USGS noted during the most recent eruption.
Some models predict that the volcano’s next eruption episode could occur sometime within the next week
HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER
Models project that Kilauea’s 37th episode is imminent, and it could occur sometime between November 21 and November 25th.
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