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October 13th, 2026
Hackard Law Donates $5,000 to Red Cross Maui Wildfire Relief
Publication Date October 13, 2026 in Firm News
A Personal Connection to Lahaina
My name is Michael Hackard, and I am the founder of Hackard Law . I have fought for heirs, beneficiaries, and victims of elder abuse throughout Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles for over five decades. I’ve written four books on how to protect your inheritance and created over 1,000 educational videos viewed by more than 7 million people. But there are times you just lay down the work of litigation and just show up as a neighbor and a human being. One of those moments was the Maui wildfires in August 2023.
Lahaina held a special place for my family. We had been there many times over the years – attending church on weekends, sharing meals, making memories in the places that, within hours, turned to ash. When I heard that a local television station was organizing a fundraiser for the Red Cross Maui relief effort, the decision to participate was immediate. Our family knew those streets. We knew what was lost.
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Quick Summary
Hackard Law donated $5,000 to the American Red Cross in response to the devastating Lahaina, Maui wildfires of August 2023, contributing to a community fundraiser that raised over $633,000 from more than 3,500 donors.
- The donation was made during a live televised fundraiser organized to support Maui wildfire victims.
- Michael Hackard cited a personal and family connection to Lahaina as the motivation behind the gift.
- A church Michael had attended during family visits to Maui survived the fire, even as surrounding buildings burned.
- The broader fundraiser saw a $200,000 surge in donations in just two hours, reflecting extraordinary community generosity.
- Donors were still able to contribute by texting HAWAII to 90999 or scanning a QR code during the broadcast.
Why This Cause Mattered
The wildfires that tore through Lahaina on August 8, 2023, were among the deadliest in modern American history. Entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble. Historic buildings, family homes, and community landmarks vanished overnight. For those of us who had walked those streets, the images carried a weight that statistics alone cannot capture.
I have spent my career working with families in crisis – families who have lost loved ones, lost inheritances, lost the security they counted on. The Maui disaster reminded me that loss can arrive in many forms, and that the instinct to help, when it is genuine, should not be second-guessed. Our $5,000 donation to the Red Cross was a small part of a much larger outpouring of support from people across California and beyond.
Case Pattern: Community Response to Catastrophic Loss
A pattern common to large-scale disasters is that the most meaningful relief comes not from any single large gift, but from thousands of people giving what they can. The Maui fundraiser reflected exactly that dynamic – over 3,500 individual donors collectively raising more than $633,000 in a single evening, with momentum building through the final hours of the broadcast.
A Church That Survived
Among the images that stayed with me after the fires was the report of a particular church in Lahaina that had survived the blaze. Everything around it had burned. The buildings where my family had spent time, the streets we had walked – gone. But that church stood.
I do not make big conclusions from that fact. But when you have sat in those pews on a quiet Sunday morning and then seen the neighborhood vanish on a news broadcast, there is something about it that rings true. That building’s survival was a little, stubborn reminder that some things do endure.
The Role of Community in Recovery
Disaster recovery is a long process. The Red Cross provides immediate relief – shelter, food, emergency supplies – but the work of rebuilding takes years. Donations made in the days and weeks following a disaster fund not just the first response, but the sustained support that families need as they begin to piece their lives back together.
The fundraiser organizers noted that donations had climbed from approximately $430,000 at 4:00 p.m. to over $633,000 by early evening – a $200,000 increase in roughly two hours. That speed is a credit to what happens when a community collectively decides it will not look away.
Case Pattern: Giving After the Event, Over and Over
Sometimes, in the hours after a major fundraiser launch, donation rates level off. The Maui relief effort broke that pattern. As the evening wore on, the viewer response picked up, indicating that the stories being told — of displaced families, of lost historic places — touched people to do something, rather than just watch. The final total kept rising even after the broadcast ended.
Hackard Law’s Commitment Beyond the Courtroom
For decades, I have stood with families navigating some of the most painful moments of their lives – contested inheritances, trustee misconduct, elder financial abuse. That work is serious, and it matters deeply to me. But a law firm is also part of a community, and communities call on each other in times of need.
The financial toll of a disaster like the Maui wildfires grows long after the flames are out. Families lose not just property but the accumulated history that property held. The fracture often runs too deep for any single act of generosity to mend. But giving, even when it cannot restore what was lost, is a declaration that those who suffered are not forgotten.
A steadfast commitment to showing up – whether in a courtroom or in a moment of community crisis – is what I believe responsible practice looks like. I am proud that Hackard Law was part of the Maui relief effort, and grateful to the thousands of donors who gave alongside us.
If you are facing a trust or estate dispute in California, our team is ready to help. Learn more about contingency fee representation for trust and estate litigation or review the most common probate and trust battles California families encounter.
Key Definitions
- American Red Cross: A nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education across the United States.
- Wildfire relief fund: A designated pool of donated money directed toward victims of wildfire disasters, typically covering shelter, food, medical care, and recovery services.
- Contingency fee representation: A fee arrangement in which an attorney is paid only if the case results in a recovery, with no upfront cost to the client.
- Community fundraiser: An organized effort, often broadcast or public-facing, to raise money for a specific cause by pooling contributions from many individual donors.
- Lahaina: A historic town on the western coast of Maui, Hawaii, largely destroyed in the August 2023 wildfires.
- Trust and estate litigation: Legal disputes involving the administration, validity, or distribution of trusts and estates, often requiring court intervention.
- Beneficiary rights: The legal entitlements held by individuals named to receive assets from a trust or estate, including the right to information and timely distribution.
- Disaster recovery: The long-term process by which individuals, families, and communities rebuild after a catastrophic event, often requiring sustained financial and logistical support.
What to Do Next
- Look for reputable disaster relief organizations, such as the American Red Cross, when considering how to direct charitable donations after a major disaster.
- Get copies of any documentation related to a trust or estate dispute as early as possible to preserve your legal options.
- Try to avoid delays in consulting an attorney if you believe a trust or estate is being mismanaged – time limits apply to many California claims.
- Look for an attorney who offers contingency fee arrangements if upfront legal costs are a barrier to pursuing a legitimate claim.
- Review resources on what California beneficiaries can do when a trustee delays distributions if you are facing trustee inaction.
- Explore the eight stages of trust and estate litigation to understand what the legal process may look like for your situation.
- Look into five essential things California trust beneficiaries should know before taking any action.
- Call Hackard Law at (916) 313-3030 to discuss your situation with an attorney.
- Visit our contact page to schedule a consultation at your convenience.
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Michael Hackard is the founder of Hackard Law, a California trust and estate litigation firm with more than five decades of experience protecting the inheritance rights of families across Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. He is the author of six published books and has produced more than 1,000 educational videos with over seven million views.