LIHUE — It was a Friday evening gathering to acknowledge Red Cross Heroes. Mainly, the volunteers.
One, in particular, was the center of attention.
They read certificates about him.
They showed videos that highlighted his life.
They called him up time and again to receive awards.
They clapped for him.
Larry LaSota smiled — and gave credit elsewhere.
“I really don’t feel like I do much more than anybody else,” he said. “I feel like everybody here really raises the bar in this community with their volunteer work.”
But when you’re the Red Cross Volunteer of the Year on Kauai, praise comes your way.
“It’s beyond words what we can say about Larry,” said Coralie Chun Matayoshi, CEO, American Red Cross, Pacific Islands Region-Hawaii Guam Saipan. “He has helped us so much.”
“True-blood people like Larry, when something happens, he is there,” she added.
About 75 people attended the annual Kauai Centennial Heroes Pau Hana at the Aqua Kauai Beach Resort. Some were community officials and leaders. Some were Red Cross advisory board members. Many were volunteers.
“You folks are true heroes,” said Mel Rapozo, County Council chair. “True heroes.”
Red Cross has one paid staff member on Kauai and about 50 volunteers who respond 24/7.
When emergencies strike, whether it be morning, afternoon or night, those volunteers are ready to respond. They might help a family that lost everything in a fire. They might assist someone whose home was damaged in a flood. They might provide shelter and food for people trapped on the wrong side of a landslide. Or the entire island could need help after a hurricane.
“We can’t do that without your support,” said Padraic Gallagher, Kauai American Red Cross director. “Thank you all for that.”
Kauai Council Councilman Derek Kawakami spoke of common denominators in places in the world where people have the highest life expectancy. Contributing factors were diet, exercise and spirituality. “Another compelling discovery, all of these places had a high level of sense of purpose,” he said.
Sense of purpose was equated to volunteerism.
Kawakami said most people, when disaster strikes, are worried about how it affects them. But not Red Cross volunteers like LaSota. He is more than the words on the certificates and plaques. “I think what comes from our hearts really reflects the essence of the kind of person Larry is,” Kawakami said.
Kualana Finn, representing Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, quoted Mahatma Gandhi: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“And that is what you all do,” Finn said. “Every time you go out there, you help folks in need.”
Elaine LaSota said when she met Larry 20 years ago, she quickly recognized he was a man who understood and lived by the value of hard work, giving back and sacrificing for the greater good. That, she said, is what he still does today.
Asked what makes her husband tick, Elaine LaSota said: “It’s his sense of duty. Some has to do it. He never complains. Ever. It needs to be done, so he does it. It’s literally that simple.”
Larry LaSota’s volunteer efforts include time as the Emergency Operations Center liaison, a job that requires him to respond on short notice. He’s responded to flash flooding in Hanalei, pitched in during Tropical Storm Iselle in 2014 and during Hurricane Darby in 2017. Last year, he organized sales of a Hurricane Iniki/Red Cross T-shirt that raised about $3,000, which was used to buy three portable generators.
LaSota said all the attention that came his way Friday was “overwhelming. It’s been a fun year doing the stuff we did,” he said.
He spoke of a feeling of cohesiveness within the Red Cross, “knowing we’re doing our best to protect the community” when troubles arise.
“Whether it happens or whether it passes by, knowing that we all came together to get there for everybody, it’s a cool thing.”
LaSota grew up in New Jersey. His parents volunteered often, but never talked about it. They just did it.
“It was a way of life,” LaSota said. “And I just continued doing it because it’s gratifying in knowing you just did something more for somebody else.”
