Dan Cogar was named American Red Cross Guam Chapter Volunteer of the Year for his unceasing selflessness and care. His 32 years as a volunteer encompasses helping families pick up the pieces after losing everything to fire and giving CPR training that could potentially save lives. For Cogar, service to others is embedded deeply in his daily life.

And though Cogar has had many brushes with devastation before, he says nothing could prepare him for the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar.

“When this typhoon hit, that was a whole new game," he said. 

It's a whole new experience in a more than familiar place–the pain of witnessing his neighbors suffer hit close to home.

“This is our home," he said. "It’s a little different if we’re going to Florida for two weeks or three weeks like a lot of the off-island volunteers come here and do, or if we’re gonna go to Hawaii or New Orleans… but when it’s at your own home, I think that makes a big difference. All the folks that are here, they live here, they see these faces every day." 

Cogar was impacted especially hard as he recalled responding to the devastation at the typhoon shelters and the Zero-Down community post-Mawar.

 “Ouch… that’s a hard one," he said. "Zero-Down… I think when you go out to a place and the whole house is destroyed, it’s a pile of garbage–and those people are digging through to find some clothes and trying to find food… that kind of hits everybody. That was probably the one that was the most eye-opening."

It’s equally heart-breaking and eye-opening tribulations that still remain with him today–Cogar is brought to tears speaking about his memories there.

And while he, too, was impacted by the storm in more ways than one, Cogar tells KUAM why he helped others before himself.

“Is it more important for you to stay home when you have a house to go to, and they don’t? Or, there are people out there suffering, and they’re your neighbors? Then, when you look at the foundation of what the Red Cross is about–alleviating pain and suffering, well, that’s about what we do," he said. "I think for someone that lives here, and the island is their family, I think that would be expected out of all of us.”