Red Cross Heroes: Woman guides United Way of Tulare County through disaster

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KGPE) – The American Red Cross is honoring its 2025 Central Valley heroes – individuals recognized for their extraordinary acts of courage, kindness and compassion. This year’s global citizenship hero is Rosemary Caso who has lead efforts to support her community through the pandemic and natural disasters.

“I thought, ‘no this is crazy, I don’t deserve to be recognized for my work, it’s all of our team it’s not just me,'” Caso said.

Caso leads the team at the United Way of Tulare County as the executive director. In that role she has faced once in a lifetime conditions including the COVID-19 pandemic, devastating wildfires, and historic flooding in Tulare County.

During the floods she spearheaded efforts to get fresh food to communities isolated by the flood waters.

“Again another example was in Alpaugh and Allensworth, they were completely surrounded by water and so we helped them get fresh food, cuz how do you get it there? You know the sheriff’s department ended up elevating the road by five feet in order to be able to even get into the community,” Caso said.

In her work, she’s helped 40 different agencies team up to form the Community Care Coalition to bridge gaps and provide help to vulnerable communities.

“We’re behind the scenes, we like just to do work because we know there’s families in need, we get phone calls on a daily basis of people needing rent and utility assistance, and even if we don’t have that resource, our biggest deal is how do we connect you to the next resource that can help you,” Caso said.

While she’s surprised at the recognition she’s received, she hopes it brings greater awareness of the work of the United Way.

“Having this opportunity of recognizing me, I really hope that it recognizes United Way’s work and what we do everyday,” Caso said.