(BIVN) – Preliminary ground preparation is underway in Pahoa for a project that will hopefully provide emergency transitional sheltering for some residents impacted by the volcanic eruption.

This Saturday, the community plans to come together to build 20 micro-structures to be managed by HOPE Services Hawaii. The non-profit organization has a lease on the property behind the Sacred Heart Church and was already planning on building a homeless support shelter facility on the land.

According to Darryl Oliveira – who in 2014 led Hawaii County Civil Defense as Pahoa faced a threatening lava flow, but who is now the safety manager at HPM Building Supply – said the project “actually started with some local contractors coming in to discuss with our team the possibility of acquiring these micro structures, that were normally built for storage or utility purposes, and repurposing them for living quarters.”

Working with County planning and building department officials, and with the help of local contractors, it has become “a real community effort to try to get something in place,” Oliveira said. “Throughout the last three weeks or so we’ve been working the processes, which is with the county’s revised or amended mayor’s Proclamation, reviewing the plans and a plot layout for this site, which will include the 20 structures along with some ancillary support facilities such as restroom facilities, a common area for meeting and dining, etc with the idea that when HOPE Services starts to put people in… they can continue that coordination and connectivity with critical services to help the displaced residents transition into something more permanent.”

The county will be getting help putting together the 10×12 structures from the National Guard, as part of a “well
over a hundred person contingent working on making this happen,” on Saturday’s build.