TRIPLER ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, Hawaii -- American Red Cross volunteers from all branches of service on island met for the Armed Forces 2011 Volunteer Recognition Ceremony, here, March 29.
In Hawaii's military community, there are 394 ARC volunteers. In 2011, those volunteers contributed more than 34,006 of volunteer hours to military services at Tripler. The duties range from clerical and administrative to medical to include nurses, doctors and pharmacists.
"I am particularly proud of the fact that just over half of those volunteers, 208 of them, have actually contributed their time to Tripler and (U.S. Army Health Clinic-Schofield Barracks)," said guest speaker Lt. Col. Steven Hale, deputy commander for administration, Tripler Army Medical Center. "Their total number of hours was 23,994. It is an incredible amount of time that is given."
For Nadia Pinet-Hurtt, ARC station coordinator, USAHC-SB and TAMC, the event allowed her to acknowledge all of the volunteers she works with every day and let them know how proud she is of the time they give to the military community.
"When I counted up the hours, I thought I had made a mistake in the calculations," Pinet-Hurtt said. "I couldn't believe how many hours there were. I know to the staff here at Tripler, it truly means something."
Hale said volunteering is defined as the act of selflessly giving of your life to something you believe in with no expectation of pay and with the intent to promote good or to improve the human quality of life.
"This is exactly what I see the volunteers throughout this island doing for us and our units," Hale said. "Four of the volunteers, three of which volunteer at Tripler, have contributed in excess of 1,500 hours each."
During the ceremony, everyone took a moment to honor two of Tripler's volunteers who passed away earlier this year. Roger Monsarrat, 90, and his wife, Eloise, 87, volunteered at Tripler for many years and were known for helping to establish the Human-Animal Bond Program at TAMC.
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