Top volunteers shine in range of efforts

Youth Volunteer of the Year: Rachael Moon.

At 11 years old, Rachael Moon is already an experienced philanthropist.

The sixth-grader at Fulmore Middle School makes regularly makes cards for hospice patients, volunteers with Manchaca United Methodist Church and works with Family Promise, a program that helps families facing homelessness.

So when Rachel raised $1,440 in March for Heifer International, she had an idea of what that effort would take. She booked a community center, held a fundraising dinner with donations from a local restaurant, organized volunteers and created a video presentation for the event.

“She doesn’t know how to say no most of the time,” said her mother, Christina Moon.

That’s because giving is fun, Rachel said.

“It gives me a really happy feeling to help,” she said.

Senior Volunteer of the Year: Dan Henshaw

It’s been 25 years since Dan Henshaw started volunteering for the Settlement Club, and the 90year-old Austin man has no intention of stopping now.

The Settlement Club is a volunteer group whose mission is to support the Settlement Home for Children, a residential facility that provides services to abused, neglected and troubled girls. The club hosts an annual garage sale that raises more than $450,000 for the home. Henshaw, who got involved when some ladies from his church asked him to volunteer, works in the tools section, repairing and inspecting the donations.

“I like it because of the goal and what their purpose is,” said Henshaw, a retired Air Force pilot and former Army paratrooper. “The women there treat me like royalty, and they’re very appreciative of everything I do for them.”

In addition to working with the Settlement Club, Henshaw volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and Kairos Prison Ministry.

“Dan is incredibly sweet and positive,” Settlement Home spokeswoman Andi Kelly wrote in her contest nomination. “If you ever feel like you have nothing to offer, Dan will show you that anyone can make a difference, no matter what age.”

Education Volunteer of the Year: Leah Paprock-Schue

Leah Paprock-Schue likes to show how much she loves Capitol School of Austin.

The school, which specializes in helping children with language and learning differences, has greatly helped her 8-year-old daughter, she said. So Paprock-Schue, 34, has shown her gratitude by raising money to buy the school several iPads, helping coordinate a garage sale with the booster club, assisting with the annual art show and volunteering in other ways.

Paprock-Shue’s work was invaluable during the 2011-2012 school year, according to her nomination by Capital School Director Jeannette Young.

“As you can see, Leah embodied the true spirit of volunteerism last year and continues to support us in all we do,” she wrote.

Volunteering gives Paprock-Shue the opportunity to give back to a place that understands her daughter’s needs and supports families. “The school just motivated me,” she said.

Faith-Based Volunteer of the Year: Debbie Wilder

Eleven years ago, Debbie Wilder launched The Gathering to help people with dementia.

When her grandmother, who lived in the Houston area, was struggling with the condition, there were no activities for her outside the home. Several years later, realizing there was also a lack of such services in Austin, Wilder decided to launch a respite care program at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church. She and other volunteers were still in the planning stages when 9/11 hit.

“We thought it’s probably better to start it and do something positive,” said Wilder, 60.

Every Tuesday, about 30 people attend the program for four hours of activities, such as singing, chair exercises, dancing and bingo. About 45 volunteers help sustain the program.

Wilder says she loves that the program helps people with dementia stay active and gives caretakers a break.

“Debbie has been a true blessing to every family who has come through this program for the past decade,” friend Joan Tomson wrote.

Social Services Volunteer of the Year: Layton Blaylock

Layton Blaylock is one of those people who uses his talent for good.

Blaylock, 58, is the cofounder of Inferno Films, a production company that specializes in commercials and documentaries. In 2006, the com- pany released a documentary about Art From the Streets, a local art show that sells work created by homeless people.

This year, Blaylock produced a video about permanent supportive housing for the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition. The video, which is about 5 minutes long, was featured online and shown during events at Austin’s annual Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

“He is one of the most genuine and sincere volunteers we have had the pleasure to work with and (we) are truly grateful for his donation of skills and talents to create this much needed tool for our community,” Jessie Aric, a program manager with the Homelessness Coalition, wrote.

For Blaylock, the work was a way to support people living on the streets.

“I just feel like these people can use all the help they can get,” he said. “Most homeless people are just like your average Joe who have fallen on hard times.”

Good Neighbor Volunteer of the Year: Judy Knotts

When St. Gabriel’s Catholic School desperately needed an interim principal for the 20122013 school year, Judy Knotts stepped up.

After the former head of school resigned in April, Knotts — who had served in the job for eight years before retiring in 2008 — agreed to fill in until a new leader can be found.

“As a testament to her value and dedication to our community, she responded to a plea to come out of retirement and be reinstated as the principal of St. Gabriel’s school,” admirer Rubén Cantú wrote. “She agreed so as not to let our kids’ education falter.”

Knotts, 72, also devotes herself to homeless issues. In the spring of 2003, she participated in a Mobile Loaves and Fishes spiritual retreat, spending 72 hours on the streets of Austin with just a backpack and no money. Since then, she has actively befriended, mentored and fed people living on the streets.

She says she is honored by the compassion homeless people have shown her. When she was sick with bronchitis, several called to check in on her.

“I get much more out of it than they do,” Knotts said. “I get a tremendous sense that we’re all bound together”

But in helping people she also makes them carry their own weight, said Shirley Johnson, a former Sunnymeade resident who worked closely with Roa to find a new home. Roa insisted that the tenants go to city council meetings, suggested ways to talk to the apartment management and guided tenants toward apartment complexes that might be able to accommodate them.

Johnson, 75, didn’t know she had rights as a tenant. Now she does.

“Ruby works for you and she is a wonderful person, but she is strong and she doesn’t do everything,” she said. “She expects you to help yourself. She helps and leads you and she gets you to stand up for yourself.”

Roa, however, is loathe to take credit for her volunteerism. A lot of people, including those she helps, are making Austin a better place, she said.

“I know that together as a community, we can and we have made a difference in people’s lives,” she said.