Around 50 people, comprised of members of the White Center Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) and citizens from White Center, met at the Salvation Army Community Center on Dec. 7 to celebrate the good deeds of local heroes.

Brian Daigneault and Imelda Morgado were given awards for performing CPR and saving the life of a man having a heart attack on a street corner in White Center on Dec. 1. Mark Ufkes, president of WCCC, had first-hand knowledge of their actions because he was there that day, helping them perform CPR.

Morgado, a nurse and CPR trainer, was first on the scene of a well-dressed older man lying on the concrete that December morning.

“Imelda was truly the hero here,” Ufkes said. “She organized everything; asking who was trained (in CPR), telling us what to do … she was in charge of a crisis situation.”

Morgado said she was walking down the street when she saw the man.

“I approached him and touched him and he was stiff,” she said. “I turned him around and he’s totally pale, lips are blue and fingers are purple. My first initial thought was, ‘He’s probably gone, I don’t know how long he’s been like this.’ But I touched him, I touched his face and he felt warm, so right away I took my jacket off and without thinking about it twice I started CPR.”

“I could see him changing colors on me, from pale to pink to red, so I knew there was some oxygen going and flowing, so that kept me motivated to keep doing it harder and faster and I just kept asking people to help.”

Performing CPR is hard work, and Morgado said she was nearing exhaustion after five minutes of continuous work. She kept asking the gathering crowd if anyone knew CPR and could step in.

“People were just looking at me, wishing they could help me, but they were (saying), ‘No,’ (and) they just put their hands back. I kept asking, ‘Can anyone else help me, can anyone else do CPR?’”

Ufkes stopped at the scene to see if he could help and Morgado asked once again if anyone could spell her. Ufkes said he could and stepped in to continue pumping the man’s chest and breathing oxygen into his lungs. The man’s color continued to improve.

Daigneault joined the crowd and took over for Ufkes, continuing the life-saving procedure until paramedics arrived on the scene.

“We were all breathlessly watching that (heart rate) monitor for what seemed like hours and all the sudden the heart started going, whatever they did, the heart started going,” Ufkes said.

As the man was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital, a paramedic asked Morgado if she had done CPR.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Congratulations, you just saved a life,” he said.

Morgado took the award ceremony as an opportunity to suggest everyone take the time to learn CPR.

“I never thought I would have to use it,” she said. “When you are in (CPR training) everything seems passive and you don’t realize that there will be the day where you might be the person that might save a person’s life.”

None of the three heroes have heard from the man they saved, and they don’t know his name, but they said they take solace in knowing someone’s likely grandfather and husband is still around.

To read Mark Ufkes' narrative about their life-saving ordeal, please click here.

For the next award, Frank Cantwell, vice president of WCCC, accepted the certificate as principal of the Holy Family Catholic School and Parish for their work in feeding White Center’s homeless population.

Cantwell said Holy Family sets aside a late Saturday each month to fill the stomachs of homeless White Center citizens, an idea that he came up with along with Jeff Hancock, a police officer who worked in White Center for a long time before heading to Vashon Island.

“I know that before I did this, I, like almost everyone else in the world, would have difficulty looking at a homeless (person) eye to eye. I don’t know about you, but I did,” Cantwell said. “Now for the last six or seven months, we have invited them into our school, we have fed them, we have given them clothes and I have listened to their stories … you know they are just like you and us.”

Holy Family recently held a Thanksgiving dinner and fed 50 homeless people.

Cross Church was also commended for their support of White Center’s homeless population. Specifically, they were honored for opening their doors during the cold snap of Nov. 22 and 23, when Seattle temperatures plummeted into the low twenties and snow piled up on the streets.

Ufkes, who is a scoutmaster, went out with White Center boy scouts during the cold snap in search of homeless people in danger of losing their lives to hypothermia. They found a homeless couple huddled under a sheet, struggling to stay warm, Ufkes said. They were close to Cross Church and decided to escort the couple to there.

“We ran across the street to (Cross Church) and what did the church do? Opened up its doors and said, ‘Bring them here immediately,’ got them hot coffee, got them a place to sleep, solved the problem and said, ‘Go out and find more,’” Ufkes said.

Ufkes and his scouts found seven more homeless people shortly thereafter and brought them back to Cross Church for warmth and shelter until the storm passed.

Church members Mary and Wade Carson accepted the award on behalf of the church.

In addition to helping out during the cold snap, Mary said Cross Church serves 30 to 100 meals a day to homeless citizens, and they are a faith-based treatment center with a one year program for people with alcohol or drug programs.

“If you know anybody who needs our services, bring them over 24 hours a day, seven days a week and knock on the door and someone will get up and take your loved one or your family member in,” Mary said.

Ufkes also announced the installation of a 25-foot Christmas tree at the corner of Roxbury, 16th and Delridge in White Center. The tree was donated to the WCCC by a local Buddhist family and there is a planned decoration and honoring ceremony, coordinated by White Center boy scouts, on Saturday morning, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m.

Award ceremony attendees also dropped off food, toy and clothing donations for the Salvation Army.

For more information on the White Center Chamber of Commerce or their program of honoring White Center heroes, visit www.whitecenterchamber.org.