Rexburg— BYU-Idaho will hold an Island dance performance to benefit flood relief in Hawaii. The event will be on April 6, at the Hart Auditorium at BYU-Idaho and will be free to attend.
“We have over 60 volunteers that will be dancing and we're dancing representing six different Polynesian islands,” said Kieiki Pouha, an organizer of the event who grew up in Hawaii and now lives in Rigby. “You'll be able to come and see Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. We'll have several different performances from each of those islands.”
Consecutive storms in a short period of time have brought record amounts of rainfall and high winds to Hawaii, causing major flooding, impacting thousands of residents. Pouha’s hometown of Kahuku on the island of Oahu is one of the areas most impacted by the recent flooding.
Kioa Delos Reyes recently returned from a relief trip to Hawaii, where he spent his time cleaning water damage from houses and helping residents impacted by the floods.
“We were able to raise some funds and went over to help out a few families and a few businesses to hopefully give them hope, help them kind of get started,” Delos Reyes said. “A lot of these families that were hit hard lost essentially everything. The water got up to knee deep to waist deep in some areas.”
Rexburg residents are no strangers to flood waters. This year marks the 50 years since the Teton Dam breakage which flooded Rexburg and surrounding areas. Flood50 is a commemorative event where the community can remember and honor the ways the flood brought Rexburg together.
The anniversary of the Teton Flood disaster is being used as an opportunity to come together and bless the lives of others now enduring similar trials.
In the Heart Gym in the summer of 1976, people would gather and it was their refuge,” said Jennifer Platt, another organizer of the event. “And so, on Monday night in the Hart Gym, we will dance and they will bring the spirit of aloha.”
Donations for the Island Dance benefit performance can be done through the Lāhui Foundation. You can find more information on the performance on the Facebook group page.