Special to Hawaii 24/7

While most people waiting through the March 10-11 tsunami warning in Hawaii could only watch the news at home, a group of Parker School students, faculty and staff in Waimea opened the school’s theatre as a shelter, helping about 125 evacuees throughout the night.

At about 11 p.m., Parker School senior Nathalie Whitfield and Shellie Note-Gressard, assistant headmaster, opened the building, while teachers Heidi Buscher and Ceri Whitfield walked to the Parker Ranch Center a few blocks away and knocked on car windows to invite evacuees to the school. By midnight, they had to stop.

“We didn’t even get to half of the cars before Nathalie was texting us that the theatre was full,” Buscher said. “We didn’t want to stop, though, because there were people who were cold.”

Buscher said as she was getting into her warm bed before they opened the school, she thought of the people who evacuated the resorts and residential homes that would be sleeping in their cars. She brought futons, blankets and pillows to the school with her.

“They came with their T-shirts and shorts, dressed for vacation in Hawaii,” Buscher said. “Some brought towels and the extra blankets from the hotel, but most didn’t have anything warm.”

The school showed the local news on the theatre’s projector, made the school’s wireless internet available, opened up the restrooms and offered visitors hot chocolate and tea.

“I think a lot of people arrived and were panicked,” Buscher said. “When they saw that we were calm and that they weren’t in danger, they felt better.”

Parker senior Jake Korobkin and sophomores Cody Brown and Aidan Wharton also stopped by the school to help, and stayed throughout the night. They went home and brought back additional blankets and towels.

“A lot of people were surprised to see teenagers helping, especially at that time of night,” Wharton said.

“It was a great sense of community,” Korobkin said.

Fine arts director, Maren Oom and volunteer Maxwell Shaw also assisted until the tsunami warning was suspended.

“I didn’t realize I would be there all night, but I’m glad I went because we helped so many people,” Whitfield said. “It was amazing to see how many people are in need and how much you can do by just being there.”

Gary Lemme, a professor at South Dakota State University, said the school’s “aloha spirit reduced everyone’s stress” and he was impressed by the students’ care and concern.

Lemme evacuated from Waikoloa Beach Resort with his wife and mother-in-law. He said they were sitting in their rental car at a gas station parking lot when Buscher and Whitfield invited them to take shelter at the school.

“It was nice because with the projection up on the screen, you could see what was going on,” Lemme said. “It was a place to stretch out. Someone gave my mother-in-law a blanket and she took a nap. It was really nice for her.”

During the tsunami warning last February, the school also opened up the theatre for visitors who had to evacuate the resorts. At 2,510 feet in elevation, Waimea is an ideal location to shelter evacuees from lower elevation.

Emily Pagliaro, headmaster’s assistant, said she was pleased to be able to ease the fears of those who took shelter at the school.

“There were a lot of people there who live in places where these types of events are not common or they don’t have the civil defense warning,” Pagliaro said. “The sirens were going off every half hour and people would just freeze; they were so scared, not knowing they were safe here.”

Though the students are involved with many service projects, Buscher said, having an opportunity to serve in a crisis taught them the joy of helping.

“For our kids, it was a wonderful way to experience helping humanity in a time of emergency, but at the same time they were safe,” Buscher said.