2 Oregon companies team up to help owner of Deeʻs Poi Mochi after Lahaina wildfires

Cook Solutions Group, a banking security company based in Portland, Ore., has partnered with Quality Trailers to help one Lahaina business owner recover after losing everything in the tragic wildfires on Aug. 8. 

Cook Community Builders, the companyʻs internal volunteer program, is raising funds to provide a new food trailer for Dee’s Poi Mochi, an iconic Lahaina food truck known serving up a variety of local treats.

Dee Rodrigues, owner of Deeʻs Poi Mochi, lost her home and food trailer in the fires, but continues to do what she can to help her grieving community.

“Itʻs hard…still hard,” Rodrigues said. “Lost it all just like that. Everything that you ever worked for- gone.”

Deeʻs Poi Mochi started as a pop up monthly in 2015, then transitioned to weekends in 2018 when the business completed the trailer. It opened full time in June of 2021 at Anchor Square in Lahaina.

The significance of taro, her business logo and the main ingredient used to make poi, represents the very essence of Hawaiian heritage, embodying the connection between the people and their ʻāina (land).

Cook Solutions group has raised funds through donations on their company website. The new food trailer is currently being built in Oregon and will be shipped to Maui.

“I look forward to the future journey and leaving a legacy,” said Rodrigues.