The actions of 12 area residents will be honored later this month at the Red Cross of Central Missouri's Heroes Dinner.
The April 21 event will be at the Capital West Event Center. Tickets are $20, and $5 for children 10 and younger.
The event honors the actions of 12 people in 11 categories: emergency medical, military, good Samaritan youth, firefighter, law enforcement, health care professional, community impact, good Samaritan adult, blood, and adult and youth volunteers of the year.
"These are the kind of people that are generally behind the scenes," said Dave Griffith of the Central and Northern Missouri Red Cross. "If you were to ask each one of them they would not consider themselves a hero, but in the eyes of the Red Cross and the communities, they are."
The agency inadvertently left out the five categories in a recent release. The complete list of awards and the recipients are:
Community Impact Award
Judy Scott has worked to help the residents of California, Missouri, for most of her adult life. She is a business owner, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and chair of the annual Ham & Turkey Festival. She was a lead volunteer at Annunciation Catholic Church and Project Share, a community organization that provides clothes for needy families. Scott also is instrumental in the Quilts of Valor program, which honors veterans by providing quilts to thank them for their service.
For more than 10 years, she has served as chair of the Angel Tree project. This program provides 100 needy families food and Christmas gifts during the holidays. She also personally donates when program funds fall short. Scott's work and her gifts reach all corners of the city.
Good Samaritan Adult Award
Donnie and Michelle Smith were driving home down County Road 305 when they saw a cloud of smoke coming from a double-wide trailer. The trailer was home to seven people, who were all asleep. They pulled off the road and up to the trailer, where they began knocking on the door and calling out. No one responded. The couple circled the trailer pounding on the windows, trying to alert any residents. After breaking some windows, the residents awoke and all were able to escape the fire safely. Although the home was a complete loss, all seven survived without injury.
Blood Services Hero Award
Bill Poore has given well over 100 units of blood. That means he possibly saved more than 300 lives, officials said. He also volunteers as a blood courier at the Columbia Red Cross office and is the blood drive coordinator for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
According to the Red Cross, someone in this country needs blood every two seconds, so every blood donor is a true hero.
Adult Volunteer of Year Award
Don Barnett is a Red Cross disaster team member. This team responds to national and local disasters at any time, day or night. He is the "go-to" volunteer who deploys on a moment's notice during those critical and difficult first hours of a disaster. He conducts casework, prepares meals and drives the emergency vehicles. His compassion and professionalism are well known, as is his leadership, which is an inspiration to staff and volunteers.
Last year, central and northern Missouri experienced multiple fires that ranged from the Evergreen Apartment fire in Holts Summit to the most recent March 1 apartment fire. Don took the lead in those responses, which affected 77 people.
In November 2012, Don deployed to Superstorm Sandy and served on the kitchen crew in Waretown, New Jersey. According to a Red Cross news release, the kitchen supervisor said he will be sorely missed and he was a real team player. The supervisor also said Don was very personable and always had a smile on his face and remained that way the entire time he was here.
Youth Volunteer of Year Award
In 2012, Junyi Wu founded Hickman High School's Red Cross Club. He built the Red Cross Club into an active organization with a large membership and ambitious goals.
The club has raised funds for comfort kits and held blood drives. Last November, club membership collected 54 units of blood. Because each unit has the potential to save three lives, that drive potentially saved 162 people.
Wu worked with club membership and local Red Cross Leadership Council members this past holiday season to host two Holiday Mail for Heroes events. The Holiday Mail is a campaign provides military members, veterans and their families a message of thanks during the holiday season. He orchestrated a week-long card signing event at his school, a community card signing event at the local mall, as well as reaching out to several elementary and middle schools to obtain hand written holiday cards for troops.
Last year, Wu was elected to sit on the local American Red Cross Leadership Council where he has helped to advise leadership and communicate current and upcoming events.
Emergency Medical Hero Award
Debbie Jaegers, a registered nurse for SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital, is being honored as the emergency Red Cross 2015 medical hero for her quick actions in saving someone's life.
Jaegers was at the Linn Drug Store when a customer alerted the cashier she was calling 911 for another shopper. Jaegers acted quickly and decided to investigate just in time to see a man collapse. He was not breathing, and she could not find a pulse. So Jaegers immediately started CPR. Soon after the Osage County Ambulance arrived, the man was transported to St. Mary's Emergency Department.
When he reached the emergency room he had a pulse, and later made a full recovery. Jaegers made that recovery possible by administering CPR on the spot.
Military Hero Award
William (Bill) McAnany Jr. was 17 when he joined the U.S. Navy during World War II.
He was trained to be in the hospital corps, and five weeks into his naval career, he was serving aboard a new hospital ship in Pearl Harbor. After the attack on the harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, McAnany treated the injured and helped clean up the wreckage from that attack. In May 1942, he shipped out aboard the USS Solace to follow the Pacific fleets. Solace medical crews treated casualties from the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Coral Sea and helped evacuate casualties from the Solomon Islands, which was part of the Guadalcanal campaign.
After his service on the Solace, McAnany was assigned to the USS Samaritan, where he saw the invasion of Saipan, Guam, Palau, Okinawa, Iwo Jima and Tokyo Bay. He saw some of the most horrific battles of World War II before he was 20 years old. Before he completed his service, he also served in Korea. Later, he started his career as a medical equipment supplier for hospitals.
Good Samaritan Youth Award
Sam Santhuff was young when he died, but in his short time, he proved himself to be charitable, brave and heroic.
Santhuff was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. When he was 7 years old, he had 72 chemotherapy treatments, 20 nuclear therapies and countless blood and platelet transfusions in just over a year. During these treatments, he didn't complain and he concentrated on ways to help other sick children feel better.
He also started a drive to collect blankets and stuffed animals for "comfort packs" for hospitalized children. In 11 months, project supporters had collected more than 550 comfort packs containing a soft blanket, stuffed animal and DVD. Santhuff died before he could see all his comfort packs distributed, leaving a legacy of selflessly comforting the afflicted.
Firefighter Hero Award
Fire Capt. Steve Holtmeier of the Jefferson City Fire Department is a trained paramedic with more than 15 years of experience.
Last summer, while eating with his family at a local restaurant, he noticed a family frantically trying to help their child breathe.
After explaining he was a firefighter, Holtmeier performed abdominal thrusts and cleared the child's airway.
Law Enforcement Hero Award
In early 2014, Deputy Rebeka Rusk of the Cole County Sheriff's Office received a call about a suicidal man threatening to set himself on fire. Upon responding to the call, Rusk found the man had doused himself with lighter fluid. He was holding cigarette lighters in each hand. The distraught man refused to drop the lighters and instead tried to proceed with his plan.
Rusk then used the fire extinguisher from her patrol car and sprayed the man down. When he tried a second time to ignite the lighters, the deputy again soaked the individual. After another officer arrived, Rusk was able to take the man into custody for a medical and mental evaluation.
Health Care Professional Hero Award
Nicole Oneill-Judd is a student technologist in imaging for the Jefferson City Medical Group.
After hearing a patient's distressed mother, she responded immediately. She ran down the hall and found the young child not breathing and turning blue. Oneill-Judd quickly performed CPR and revived the child, who was then taken to the hospital. Later, the child made a full recovery.