PLAYING ALONG

Public safety gets a big Laotian ‘thank you’

WOONSOCKET — For various reasons, many of the Southeast Asians who were uprooted by war landed in this city, a place they’ve adopted as a second home where they feel welcome, says Vanmala Phongsavan.

In a low-key ceremony at the Cumberland Street fire station on Wednesday, Phongsavan and other prominent members of the Laotian-American community gathered to offer public safety officials a $2,000 expression of gratitude.

A check for the sum was turned over to Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt by members of the Watlao Xoke Xayyaram Buddhist Temple, 458 River St., for the benefit of the Woonsocket fire and police departments.

“It’s their way of saying ‘thank you’ for the public safety officials of the City of Woonsocket,” said saffron-robed Bounthavy Vansiripanyo, president of the Watlao Temple.

The temple has comparatively few regular members, but roughly once a month several hundred Loatians and others who trace their roots to various Southeast

Asian countries assemble at the place of worship for gatherings steeped in cultural traditions.

For the last few years, the city has also been home to an annual Southeast Asian Festival, featur

ing boat races with vessels

resembling fearsome serpents of the sea. Just don’t call them dragon-boats, says Phongsavan – they’re Chinese.

“That’s where we really developed our relationship,” said Public Safety Director Eugene Jalette. “It’s been a good relationship ever since.”

Members of the community realize such events require public safety resources, and they’re pleased by the support they’ve received from police, firefighters and other city officials, says Phongsavan, a well-known ambassador of sorts for Laotian-Americans in the region.

Baldelli-Hunt praised Laotian-Americans as a “hard-working” community that often tends to “stay in its own pocket,” but she wanted them to know they’re an important part of the city’s makeup.

“They are welcome in Woonsocket,” Baldelli-Hunt said. “They have a lot to offer. Their culture is important to us, it’s an important part of the fabric of our city’s community.”

During the era of the Vietnam War, the seminal event that led to much social upheaval and triggered a wave of flight from the region, a national organization known as the Tolstoy Foundation, active in refugee resettlement, operated one of its comparatively few offices in the city. Phongsavan was active with the foundation, which became a first point of contact for many Southeast Asian refugees, and turned Woonsocket into a natural landing zone for many seeking asylum.

Today individuals who identify themselves as Asian are the city’s smallest nonwhite ethnic group, comprising just 7.6 percent of the city’s population of roughly 41,600 people, according to the census bureau. But that’s a heavier concentration than even Providence, where just 6.3 percent of the population describe themselves as Asian.

Fire Chief Paul Shatraw said the fire department will use the donation to organize a series of CPR classes for adults and youngsters. He said some of the classes might be held in schools or at the Watlao Temple.

“The more people we can train in CPR, the better off we are,” said Shatraw.

Ernest A. Brown photo John Rathbun, of Burrillville, dressed as “Chell” – the main character from the video game Portal – takes in the sights and sounds of Rhode Island Comic Con 2019 inside the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence Saturday. Thousands of people lined up early Saturday morning outside the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Convention Center to take part in the star-studded fun. RI Comic Con continues today in downtown Providence. See Monday’s edition of The Call for a complete recap.

Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, right, chats with members of Woonsocket’s Wat Lao Xokexayarm Buddhist Temple, joined by members of the fire department as well as Public Safety Director Eugene Jalette, Police Chief Thomas Oates, and Fire Chief Paul Shatraw as members of the temple’s board of directors prepared to present the Woonsocket Fire Department with a donation check in appreciation for the all the department does for the city on Wednesday.

Ernest A. Brown photo Woonsocket Fire Chief Paul Shatraw, Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt and Woonsocket Public Safety Director Eugene Jalette, from left, accept a check at fire department headquarters in the amount of $2,000.00 as a donation from the Wat Lao Buddhist Temple’s board of directors during a ceremony on Wednesday.