BILLINGS — A Helena woman's trip to visit her daughter in Hawaii has turned into a relief mission as she brings five bins of donated work boots to help with severe flooding in Oahu.
"The flooding has displaced a lot of people. They're still trying to figure out exactly how many numbers," said Joanne Didriksen, whose daughter, Harley, lives in Oahu, the state's most populous island.
Watch the Joanne Didriksen talk about the boot donation:
Torrential rains flooded Oahu in mid-March, displacing residents and leaving standing, contaminated water.
"There's definitely been people who have lost absolutely everything, which has been heartbreaking to see," Harley Didriksen said in a video interview with MTN News.
Joanne Didriksen originally planned a relaxing trip to visit her daughter. Now, she is bringing five plastic bins filled to the brim with work boots to help volunteers.
Harley Didriksen said the situation has been devastating for the community.
"I have a lot of friends that live up here and like everyone is heartbroken, but also hopeful," Harley Didriksen said.
The boots are a critical need because when Harley went to look, there were none to be found on the island.
"I was looking for boots to volunteer in, and I couldn't find any boots. I went to two different Walmarts, two different Targets, two different Home Depots," Harley Didriksen said.
"There were no work boots on the island. And it's hard to it's hard to buy some when you don't have access to them," Joanne Didriksen said.
Donations poured in from across Montana. Joanne Didriksen's boyfriend reached out to friends to help gather the supplies.
"Fire department donated a whole bunch. My boyfriend.. reached out to his friends. So we've got a whole bunch from the Laurel refinery," Joanne Didriksen said.
Flying the five bins to Hawaii would have cost almost $500, but Alaska Airlines waived all the fees for the relief effort.
"It just makes me feel really thankful," Joanne Didriksen said.
Joanne Didriksen said the flooding in Oahu has been severe for about 10 days. She noted the differences between flooding in Montana and Hawaii.
"One of the things that's hard for us to understand in Montana is we're used to flooding like the Yellowstone, where it floods and it washes away in Hawaii, their ocean level. And so it doesn't go away. It stays there. And so as they're trying to repair, repair roads, as people are displaced, they're having to deal with all of this water and then the contamination from that," Joanne Didriksen said.
Joanne Didriksen lands in Oahu Friday night, and said she will be boots on the ground Saturday.
"We rounded up some boots to take with us, and we'll be dropping those off and volunteering on Saturday," Joanne Didriksen said. "We're hoping to volunteer as much as we can. And the community of Oahu does a really good job of gathering forces."
