Neighbors

Monday, July 12, 1999

Helping others
makes him feel good

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Michael Asing never knew Dave's last name but he cared enough to make himself accessible so his elderly neighbor wouldn't have to spend time traveling by bus from McCully to Tripler Hospital three times a week.

"I gave him numbers for my pager, cellular and home and told to call if he needed a ride," said Asing, a Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association national "Good Samaritan" award winner.

"He didn't want to bother me but I told him a half hour for me is nothing. Dave spent 9 to 12 hours going to Tripler by bus for cancer treatments and then shopping. I think we were able to cut it down to three hours."

Asing, 39, a GTE Wireless customer zone technician, said Dave died recently, about four days after his wife passed away.

"All I was trying to do was help when needed," Asing said. "When I see elderly or handicapped people having a hard time, I just think what if it was me.

"Sometimes, I see this handicapped guy walking along King Street in Kalihi pushing an old shopping cart and picking up rubbish. I'll stop when I can and give him $5.

"I think when you do something for people, it always makes you feel good inside."

Kit Leimomi (Zhulan Lo) Prasser, Hawaii's reigning Narcissus queen, brought back the perfect gift for her father from her recent visit to Beijing.

The unopened bottle of Coca-Cola, distinguished by its tall shape and Chinese writing, was added to Robert Prasser's collection.

Prasser, commander of the Honolulu Police Department's Informational Technology Division, has bottles from Western Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, France, and even a wooden crate and bottles from the territory of Hawaii in his collection of about four dozen bottles.

He also has special commemorative bottles, celebrating occasions such as Christmas, the Atlanta and Barcelona Olympics, and the New Orleans Jazz Festival. "This is approaching mental illness," Prasser said about his Coke collecting.

"I've even got a (computer) screen saver with the (Coca-Cola) polar bear," he added. "People are always dropping off souvenirs like Coke candies, magnets and playing cards for me. My staff even gave me a Coke clock."

Prasser says he's not a formal collector but started saving memorabilia because "I just love drinking Coke."

"I was doing yardwork one day and dug up an old bottle," Prasser said. Naturally, it was Coke.

His father, the late Richard Prasser, managed a soft-drink plant in Evanston, Ill. "We grew up with Hires Root Beer and Orange Crush," Prasser said. "But somehow, I gravitated to Coke."

He is looking to add bottles of Coke from India and the Middle East to his collection, which he keeps in his office at work.

About 150 members of an organization called Seniors Actively Volunteering in Education spend two or more hours a week helping students and administrators at 50 Oahu public schools.

Despite its name, project coordinator Meriel Collins says SAVE volunteers range in age from their mid-20s to over-80s.

"The need for extra tutorial help is not going to go away," Collins said. "Teachers are doing a bang-up job, but they need help.

"They can't spend extra time with one student who is falling behind at the expense of 25 others. If a child is falling behind, our volunteers will tutor one-on-one during class time."

Collins said SAVE's basic mission is to recruit and train tutors. "SAVE started out as a senior citizens project in 1994 but now we have community volunteers of all ages," she said. "Not all the volunteers tutor. Some just help out at schools. They're at schools once or twice a week. We ask for a minimum of two hours a week.

"One of the biggest rewards for our volunteers is knowing that they've made a difference in a child's life."

SAVE screens its volunteers and does criminal background checks, Collins said.

Volunteers can call SAVE at 536-7234.