Kent resident Margaret Mathai will be honored March 26 by the American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties as a 2009 \u201cEveryday Hero.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Veteran\u2019s Day weekend in 2007, Mathai was cooking in her kitchen when a pan of hot oil caught fire. Fearing that her apartment would catch fire and her neighbors might be harmed, Mathai grabbed the flaming pan and threw it outside. In doing so, she suffered severe burns on her hands and arms.<\/p>\n
Following several months of recovery, Mathai wanted to turn a negative situation into an opportunity to give back. She knew there were others like her who didn\u2019t understand some of the hazards of American-style living and cooking.<\/p>\n
Margaret now volunteers with the American Red Cross and teaches African immigrants and refugees how to mitigate and handle emergencies. She covers topics such as fire prevention, what to do in a fire and how important it is to call 9-1-1.<\/p>\n
Carol Dunn, a disaster preparedness educator at the Red Cross, says Mathai is a hero \u201cbecause she took a difficult, challenging situation and actually saved her apartment building \u2026 and is taking that knowledge and sharing it with others.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if she thinks of herself a hero Mathai said, \u201cnothing else matters but saving a life.\u201d She added, \u201cI live with a scar, but I live with a noble intention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mathai is one of 11 heroes who will be honored at the 13th annual Heroes Breakfast \u2013 \u201cEveryday People, Everyday Heroes\u201d \u2013 sponsored by Costco Wholesale. The event runs from 7:30-9 a.m. at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle. All proceeds will support disaster-relief efforts in King County.<\/p>\n
For more information visit www.seattleredcross.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kent resident Margaret Mathai will be honored March 26 by the American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties as a 2009 \u201cEveryday Hero.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-19941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19941"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}