Story by Catie Ballenger, American Red Cross
On Thursday, Colorado volunteers and employees with the American Red Cross of Colorado took time to enjoy and celebrate the holiday season. We celebrated our shared passion to make a difference in the world. We ate food together, gave gifts and laughed… a lot!
Photo Credit: Catie Ballenger
Every year, hundreds of our volunteers help victims of disaster. They provide comfort and care to ill and injured service members and veterans, teach others lifesaving skills such as First Aid and CPR and install smoke alarms in homes that don’t have one. Often in the midst of volunteering, they forge lifelong friendships. Two volunteers at the celebration last night are proof that Red Cross friendships are deep.
Lester Keanini, a shelter volunteer for Red Cross of Hawaii, and Diana Dalager, mass care lead volunteer for Red Cross of Colorado, attended the party together. Their friendship started in the midst of Hurricane Harvey, two years ago. This was Diana’s first deployment. She was working at the mega-shelter in Houston where she met Lester. Over the three weeks of deployment, they became fast friends. Diana explains, “we worked so well together that we stuck by each other the whole time.” Lester felt that the two of them “shared “Ohana – the Hawaiian word for the bond of family.”
Diana and Lester stayed in touch for the next two years. Each time they deployed; the Red Crossers looked for each other. But it wasn’t until Hurricane Dorian that they were reunited. Diana and her daughter, Lexie deployed together.
She became fast friends with Lester too. He mentored Lexie, even teaching her how to correctly put up cots. For Diana, “deploying is special. I love working with other volunteers, getting to know them, forming bonds and taking care of one another.”
After the Dorian deployment was over, Diana and Lexie invited Lester to come back to Colorado so they could show him Denver and introduce him to the rest of their family. He wasn’t able to visit then but promised to come to Denver for Thanksgiving.
Photo Credit: Catie Ballenger
Lester did come for Thanksgiving, and he brought his daughter. He felt like he was “coming home to visit.” And when Diana brought him to our holiday party, Lester’s family grew a little bit bigger.
I was deployed to the Santa Barbara fires from Honolulu with Lester. He demonstrated every day on what hard work, team work, and a humbled heart can do for the clients we served and the other volunteers we worked with. A gentle man with a heart of gold, and always giving 110% everyday . Deploying with Lester helped me understand what Kind of commitment we give as an Red Cross Volunteer and willingness to give the best of me, one deployment at a time. Thank You Lester!
Diana is a personal friend, very special to all of us here in Merrimac, MA where she lived many years ago. She is a hero.
Beautiful story of a beautiful person.