KAILUA-KONA — A Honokaa man has been overwhelmed with the community support he’s received after ranting on Facebook about a theft from his home earlier this week.
Dominic Yagong, known as the Voice of the Honokaa Dragons, has been emceeing all of Honokaa Schools’ sporting events with his own equipment since 1992. On Tuesday afternoon, he discovered a cordless mic, sound mixer and speaker had been stolen from his Honokaa home.
The estimated cost of the stolen property is $2,400.
After reading about the theft in West Hawaii Today, Yagong said, many people have called and messaged him on Facebook offering equipment and money to help replace what he lost.
“It makes you feel like people appreciate and believe in what you do,” Yagong said. “It’s been a positive experience.”
One person who has come forward to help is Honokaa School alumnus Raymond Kawamata. He said he read about Yagong’s plight in the paper and immediately contacted police who in turn directed him to Yagong.
Kawamata offered to give Yagong $2,500 to repurchase equipment.
“When I read the story it struck a note,” Kawamata said. “I can understand the situation. When people take away a resource like Dominic, it strikes the community hard.”
The next home basketball game is Monday against the Ka’u Trojans. Yagong hopes to have a new system at least by Jan. 13 when the Dragons face HPA in a rematch of last year’s championship game. Honokaa defeated HPA by one point with no time on the clock.
“It was a really exciting game,” Yagong said.