The American Samoa chapter of the American Red Cross received unexpected good news earlier this summer. It came by way of an award to one of its staunchest supporters, an active volunteer who has dedicated a great deal of time and energy to the local Red Cross organization — Vui Robert Tuala.

In a letter received from Brittany Rhyne, manager of Volunteer Services at the San Diego/ Imperial Counties Chapter of the ARC, Rhyne said, “Congratulations to Robert Tuala, July’s Volunteer of the Month! A former Board Member with our American Samoa office, Robert is currently leading the efforts to ensure the local team is on Red Cross initiatives and directives, including Volunteer Connection, Disaster Services, Preparedness and Health & Safety, Service to the Armed Forces and more.”

Out of thousands of volunteers in the region, this is the first time someone from the Territory has been chosen for this honor.

Tuala flew to San Diego to complete training in these areas, and came back the following week to become a Supervising Volunteers Workshop facilitator, she wrote, noting the distance Tuala had to travel. “Robert’s goal is to build stronger-than-ever leadership and volunteer teams, ensuring that the Red Cross can best respond to any community need,” she wrote, adding, “Thank you for your commitment, Robert!”

Acknowledging the award at the Red Cross Office in Tafuna, Vaito’a Hans Langkilde, chairman of the American Samoa Red Cross said, “In receipt of this wonderful email news, on behalf of our ARCAS organization, it is a pleasure and honor for me to congratulate you for a great and well deserved recognition from our San Diego Red Cross chapter. This recognition comes at a very appropriate time in our strive to move the local Red Cross efforts to the next level upward.”

At this time, according to Tuala, the local Red Cross is integrating their volunteer system electronically with San Diego, in a “Volunteer Connection.”

“Thank you Vui and I look forward to your continued drive, dedication and commitment as we work together as an organization to achieve our objectives and goals, ‘said Vaito’a, adding, “Ia fa'amanuia ma ta'ita'iina pea le Atua Alofa lou fa'amoemoe. This calls for celebration!”

Vui told Samoa News: “Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Red Cross Organization. Today, the US Red Cross is able to operate and provide services to communities throughout the nation because of volunteers. In fact, the US Red Cross operates with 10% paid staff and 90% volunteers.”

“From helping disaster victims to serving families of the armed forces and veterans, to providing life saving skills training, to mobilizing blood donation drives throughout many communities across the country... these services would not be possible without the selfless giving of volunteers who see the value of giving their time to the Red Cross Mission of relieving human suffering and helping their communities.”

“Therefore, the Board of Directors of OUR local Red Cross invites any physically able adult or youth to contact our office at Tafuna to signup as a volunteer. There are opportunities in the areas of Disaster Preparedness, Logistics, Community Awareness/Outreach, Fundraising, Services for the Armed Forces, Volunteer Development, Operations/Special Events, IT Support, and Health & Safety. There is a recruitment process in place for all new volunteers and a training period to allow the volunteers to fully integrate themselves into serving under the area of their interest.”

“It’s important to remember that ongoing training during blue skies is geared toward preparing the volunteers for disaster events during grey skies,” he said.

Vui then made a heartfelt appeal: “Come join your local Red Cross! Let’s work together to prepare our community for any disaster. Please call 699-6011 if you are interested in joining the Red Cross as a volunteer.”