Daniel Sayre was a waterman, as skilled in the ocean as he was in the books.
He was bright, a student with a 160 IQ who breezed through academia when he applied himself. And he was a boy’s boy — an adventurer, if not rabble-rouser.
“He was a little bit of a rascal,” Daniel’s stepmother, Laura Mallory-Sayre, said.
But one with wit.
There was the time his father, Frank, made Daniel get a job after he returned from college to live at home.
Every morning, Daniel would leave the house first thing in the morning with his packed lunch and not come home until late in the afternoon, where he’d grab his surfboard and end the day on the waves. It was a routine familiar to the Hawaii working class.
Except for Daniel it was a routine that hid a bit of a ruse.
It turned out, the young man would slip back into the house shortly after his mother and father left for the morning and pick up his surfboard and hit the water then. He kept the fabricated workday up for a while, until one day the house wasn’t empty upon his early return and the gig was up.
Yet, even when Daniel came clean, he did it with his own pizazz.
“It’s your fault I lied,” Daniel told his father, a logic which, naturally, baffled Frank.
What do you mean it’s my fault?” Frank asked.
“If you didn’t make me work 40 hours a week, I wouldn’t have to lie to you.”
Frank shook his head recently as he recounted the memory.
“He was really, really fun,” he said.
It can be easy to forget the reason behind the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation, given how far the nonprofit has come in the last 22 years.
Two decades ago, when Frank and Laura wanted to show their appreciation for The Hawaii Fire Department and first responders, they thought they would give them annual awards. Today, thanks to driving energy befitting only the Sayres and relentless community support, the Foundation has gifted $3.5 million in life-saving equipment.
“It kind of keeps his legacy going,” Frank said about his son, looking back on the two-decade journey that started with an idea and ended with a thriving 501(c)3. “That’s not why we do it, it’s kind of taken on a life of its own.”
The Foundation still hands out accolades every year — this year’s 22nd annual awards dinner and fundraiser is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, at the Fairmont Orchid in Waikoloa. But raising money and gifting departments with top-of-the line — not to mention sorely needed — equipment has been the Foundation’s driving mission.
A mission whose success has given the Foundation a notoriety like never before.
Other states and islands have reached out to see if the Sayres can guide them through establishing similar programs there. Kauai’s fire department needs help. Maui’s lifeguards need bolstering, as do South Carolina’s, incidentally. Oahu is pinched for ambulances.
They’ll help them. It’s just a question of how.
“If we can save one more life by doing this then that’s one family that won’t have to go though what we went through,” Laura said. “One more. And I know it’s going to be more than one more because it has been on this island.”
How far the Foundation can spread its reach beyond Hawaii Island shores is still off on the horizon. Regardless, it’ll still raise money on Hawaii Island for Hawaii Island.
To help course its future at home and abroad, the Sayres hav hired the Foundation’s first executive director, Elizabeth Pickett.
The job posting solicited 70 resumes from across the Eastern Seaboard and United States, including applications from CEOs, Ph.Ds and attorneys. Pickett was selected in part because of her network of contacts and relationships she’s built across Hawaii with county, state and federal fire departments.
“She’s going to take this to different heights,” Laura said.
Pickett worked for 12 years at the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, where, under her leadership as executive director, the organization grew from a small nonprofit that worked solely in West Hawaii to a national award-winning hub of wildfire information and protection projects across the entire state and US-affiliated Pacific.
One of her major strengths is grant writing. Last year, she applied for $5 million in grants and was awarded $4 million. She begins her tenure at the Foundation Aug. 1.
That’s all in the future.
Right now, the Sayres are grateful — and humbled — the Foundation has come this far. It’s been a journey that wouldn’t have been possible without the community support. More than 70 percent of the moneys raised come from within West Hawaii.
The Sayres point to that figure as proof how invested the leeward side is in its community. They credit, too, West Hawaii Today for running stories about the Foundation’s donations and giftings that help spread its mission.
“Everyone who contributes should take pride in what’s being accomplished with the Foundation because it’s really your foundation,” Laura said.
It was a mission that began after Danny’s death in 1997.
The 25-year-old died during a hiking trip to the back of Pololu Valley near Kapaloa Falls. Fire crews spent close to 10 hours trying recover Danny, who fell 500 feet to the valley floor.
It happened just days before Daniel was set to go to Austin, Texas to finish his final year in college at the University of Texas. It was only shortly after, the family learned the rescuers didn’t have the proper ropes or training to undertake such a monumental operation.
Their dogged rescue effort prompted the Sayres to give back, and that they have. At first, it was with awards.
“We were so happy to get anything,” Frank said of those early days.
Now, their most recent donation is a $313,000 custom-built fire truck for the Waimea Fire Department that can traverse lava rock as easily as paved road. In between, scores of donations have filled stations islandwide.
Where it goes from here, who’s to say?
Right now, the Sayres are still at it, stronger than ever.
“It feels really right,” Laura said. “It feels like it was something it was intended to be.”