University of Hawai‘i baseball players Levi Maddela (from left), Dylan Waite and Ben Zei gler-Namoa of Maui help stock supplies Wednesday afternoon at the distribution site located inside the former Kahului Safeway store on Kamehameha Avenue. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

KAHULUI — Naighel Calderon spotted his 2-year-old nephew Taysom and couldn’t resist greeting the child with a huge hug. Calderon, a Lanai High School graduate, was part of the University of Hawai’i athletics contingent that traveled to Maui unannounced Wednesday to help at four different venues for the Maui wildfires relief efforts.

When Calderon, a fifth-year senior outfielder for the UH baseball team, arrived at the second stop — the old Safeway store in Kahului — his older brother Isaac, Isaac’s wife Kalae, and young Taysom were waiting to greet him.

“It’s extremely nice, I’m very grateful for this experience,” Naighel Calderon said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been back and Maui definitely played a key role in my upbringing. I’m really excited to get down to it and help some people out because this community has given me so much. I think it’s time for me to give back.”

Young Taysom went home with a glove for one of his older brothers, courtesy of his uncle Naighel, and the gleam in the youngster’s eye said a ton about how important the visit by more than 50 UH athletes was.

The baseball team, water polo team and softball team were represented at all four stops, while several football players flew over later to join in stops at the Kahana Gateway distribution center and Napili Park. The first stop of the day was at UH-Maui College.

University of Hawai‘i baseball players Aaron Ujimori (left) and Jake Tsukada wheel a cart of food and supplies to the parking lot while volunteering Wednesday afternoon at a distribution site located in the former Safeway grocery store in Kahului. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Isaac Calderon and his family were not at the Safeway distribution center picking up supplies — they were there to see their hero in action, helping the island they live on now.

“Growing up, Lahaina was our second family,” Isaac Calderon said in an email to The Maui News.

The older Calderon was clearly touched to see what his younger brother was doing on Wednesday.

“To see a younger generation along with my younger brother NAIGHEL and the University of Hawaii come and help nurture Lahaina is very comforting,” Isaac Calderon said. “We all ohana in Hawaii and we all have to kokua. No matter what it takes. It’s our culture to help one another and love one another!”

Naighel Calderon was joined at the event by three Baldwin graduates who are also on the UH baseball roster.

Ben Zeigler-Namoa has quickly grown into one of the team leaders after just one season in Manoa.

“It’s an amazing opportunity I think for everyone, all of UH, all the people of Lahaina and this island are in our hearts,” said Zeigler-Namoa, who grew up in Lahaina and attended Lahainaluna before transferring to Baldwin as a sophomore. “I mean, this is just one little thing that we can do to help out. It’s amazing.”

Zeigler-Namoa was adamant that the opportunity to help hands-on was huge for him and his mental well-being.

“Oh, 100 percent,” he said. “I think to know we’re making an impact somehow, some way is big because we’re not going to get better instantly. It’s going to be a day-by-day process, but just to make an impact this early on, it does mean a lot mentally.”

Dylan Waite is a first-year player at UH after spending two years at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash.

“Helping other people here helps me feel joy, it fills my heart with soul,” Waite said. “Helping other people is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

Levi Maddela was the Maui Interscholastic League baseball Player of the Year for the state runner-up Bears team in May, and the wide smile he wore with his tapa “H” shirt was palpable on Wednesday.

“It feels great to come back to Maui,” Maddela said. “It’s depressing to see what everybody’s going through — I had some family and friends affected — so to help out today makes me feel much better, too.”

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen was at the Safeway location and chatted with UH baseball coach Rich Hill for several minutes as the athletes began to roll out supplies inside the facility.

The trip was organized by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke.

“So grateful, grateful to Lieutenant Governor Luke for the work she did to put this together, all the folks that came together,” Bissen said. “So, it’s just a big moment for us, but more importantly this is for our people out here that are standing in line. They get a chance to interact with them and see these folks out there that are here to help us.”

Luke said her heart was warmed to see all the work getting done in Kahului.

“This is such a fabulous boost for the community,” Luke said. “This is something that between my staff and UH athletics thought of just over the weekend and it’s amazing to see the amount of support these kids had and the amount of aloha and the fact that they wanted to be here. The coaches did not force these kids to be here. It was baseball, softball and water polo teams and when the other teams found out, they wanted to be here, too.”

The Rainbow Warriors football team has two former Kamehameha Schools Maui players on the roster in Karsyn Pupunu and Kimo Holo Holt-Mossman, and both made the trip to help out later in the day.

Pupunu, a junior wide receiver for UH, lost four family members in the Lahaina fire — the family of Faaoso Tone, Malui Tone, Salote Tone and Tony Takafua.

Pupunu was home the weekend after the fires and he said things were better on this trip.

“It felt like it was really important, as soon as I was given the opportunity I was quick to jump onto it,” Pupunu said via phone from the Kahului Airport as he waited to fly back to Oahu. “Just to come out here and help out the community and see how far things have changed since the last time I’ve been here. It’s been quite a different perspective. It’s been good to see the community come together and work as one and help each other out.”

Holt-Mossman is a junior defensive back on the team in his first year at UH after spending two years at Chabot Junior College. Holt-Mossman grew up in Kula.

“Just the neighborhood that I grew up in, just devastated,” Holt-Mossman said. “It was kind of sad because neighbors that I grew up with, some of them lost everything. Really sad.

“It means a lot to us to be here, me and Karsyn, because this is home. Being from Maui, honestly, it’s good to give hope to the kids, to the people.”

* Staff Writer Robert Collias can be reached at rcollias@mauinews.com.

University of Hawai‘i baseball players Aaron Ujimori (left) and Jake Tsukada wheel a cart of food and supplies to the parking lot while volunteering Wednesday afternoon at a distribution site located in the former Safeway grocery store in Kahului. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo University of Hawai‘i baseball players Levi Maddela (from left), Dylan Waite and Ben Zei gler-Namoa of Maui help stock supplies Wednesday afternoon at the distribution site located inside the former Kahului Safeway store on Kamehameha Avenue. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

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