NUKOLI‘I — Six Kaua‘i residents were recognized “for going beyond the call of duty” during the annual Humanitarian Awards dinner hosted by the Rotary Clubs, Tuesday night at the Hilton Kaua‘i Beach Resort. “Rotary Clubs were originally founded as a
NUKOLI‘I — Six Kaua‘i residents were recognized “for going beyond the call of duty” during the annual Humanitarian Awards dinner hosted by the Rotary Clubs, Tuesday night at the Hilton Kaua‘i Beach Resort.
“Rotary Clubs were originally founded as a way for persons of different occupations to get together and help their communities and make new friends,” said Nancy Kanna, the District 5000 assistant governor, Kaua‘i Clubs, in an e-mail. “The Humanitarian Awards coincides with Rotary’s Vocational Service Month and this is the Kaua‘i clubs’ way of celebrating this.”
Beverly Coursey, Steven Doi, Gerald Hurd, Ezra Kanoho Jr., Josie Pablo and Rose Silva were announced as the recipients of this year’s awards and congratulated by Kanna, Wally Rezentes Jr., representing Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., and Dr. Lisa Foster, Rotary District 5000 Governor.
Former Kaua‘i state representative Ezra Kanoho stood in for his son, Ezra Kanoho Jr., who was off-island, and in accepting the $500 award presented to each recipient, announced that Ezra Jr. would be donating the entire amount of the prize toward Special Olympics Kaua‘i, a program he devotes a lot of time to.
During the course of selecting the recipients, each of the Rotary Clubs on the island reviewed nominations of people in the fields of Firefighter, Police Officer, Water Safety Officer, Healthcare worker, Social worker and Homeless Care worker, Kanna said.
“When people go beyond the call of duty, they deserve recognition,” Kanna said. “Because the island is so small, the effects of what they do reverberates beyond the communities they work in.”
John Gillen, president of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, described Coursey as being in one of the least recognized professions, social work.
In accepting the award, Coursey said she was having a bad day and when she found out she was nominated, everything turned for the better.
Nominees for the awards were based on how well-grounded they are in their respective areas of assignment, how they deal with problems or conflicts, professionally, how they contribute to colleagues’ growth and development, how dedicated they are to their field of work and the display of genuine aloha for those in which they serve.
Doi spends hundreds of hours volunteering each year as the logistics coordinator for the Kaua‘i Hospice “Concert in the Sky,” said Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman in his nomination of the Kaua‘i fire fighter who was recently promoted to fire captain.
Rodney Pascua, president of the Rotary Club of Kapa‘a, said fire fighters live by the manta of polishing the badge and Doi must have the brightest badge in the department.
Similarly, Hurd, a water safety officer at the Po‘ipu tower, has a shiny badge said Dick Olsen, president of the Rotary Club of Kaua‘i.
Hurd, through his deeds of being a Junior Lifeguard instructor, a district supervisor of 13 water safety officers and equipment, and playing a key role in crowd control during the killer whale beaching incident at Po‘ipu, earned the Water Safety officer award.
“There are only two ways to live,” said Susan Pittman, president of the Rotary Club of Po‘ipu Beach. “One way is that nothing is a miracle and the other is that everything is a miracle.”
Pittman said in her first conversation with Pablo, the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital Recreational Activities director exuded life.
“She has a high regard for mankind and truly deserves recognition,” Pittman said.
Among Pablo’s achievements are the countless activities she engages the hospital’s senior population in, and more recently, engaged the nursing students from the Okinawa College of Nursing, creating an international influence with the work being done at the Mahelona Hospital, Pittman said.
“Everything we do at the hospital is only possible because of the help and support we get from the staff and the residents’ families and the community,” Pablo said. “They are the heroes.”
Silva single-handedly runs the Kokua Soup Kitchen at the Salvation Army, Hanapepe Corps, said Kelly Liberatore, president of the Rotary Club of West Kaua‘i which had just completed an emergency food drive for the Hanapepe Corps over the weekend.
Liberatore said recently Silva prepared a lu‘au-style buffet for all of the volunteers at the Hanapepe Corps — on her day off, demonstrating her concern for the well- being of others.
“It’s easy,” Silva said. “I just live aloha.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
