60 Bentos Cooked in the Dark

The useful part

What began as one couple's refusal to look away grew, quietly and organically, into something the Hawaiian word "laulima" captures perfectly: many hands working together. The night after Hurricane Lowell swept through Kaua'i, with their own power out, Damian and Donna Loo drove to a friend's house with a backup battery and cooked 60 bentos for elderly neighbors who had nothing left in their refrigerators but spoiling food. One elder told Donna he was going to pin his card on the wall.

Details worth keeping

The night after Hurricane Lowell swept through Kaua'i, with their own power out, Damian and Donna Loo drove to a friend's house with a backup battery and cooked 60 bentos for elderly neighbors who had nothing left in their refrigerators but spoiling food. One elder told Donna he was going to pin his card on the wall. Another, a client she visited daily and always found napping on his couch, came outside walking toward her one afternoon — and told her, "I think you've nourished me back to life." The Loos also opened their home for mahjong and dinner nights, knowing that isolation after a storm can be as dangerous as the storm itself.