Donelle Manton
Since starting the Tres Islas Orphanage Fund 23 years ago, Donelle Manton has been working every waking minute to serve the children of orphanages in Mazatlan, Mexico. She spends her evenings, weekends and vacation time tirelessly emailing, writing newspaper articles, budgeting, fund raising and visiting the orphaned children in Mazatlan, Mexico.
What began twenty-three years ago as a one-person effort to help the children in Mexico’s orphanages has blossomed into a thriving nonprofit organization, actively serving five orphanages with over 100 children and engaging donors and volunteers from across North America.
Over 100 donors contribute annually to support the Tres Islas Orphanage Fund’s endeavors. Of these, 20-40 travel to Mazatlan during a Spring Mission Week where they perform building upgrades, spend time with the children and their caregivers and get to know other donors.
At inception, Donelle insisted the Tres Islas Orphanage Fund be unique, in that 100% of all donations go toward the betterment of the children with nothing ever taken out for administration, salaries, or other expenses. The operating expenses are paid for out-of-pocket – her pocket.
Today, the Tres Islas Orphanage Fund serves approximately 123 children in five orphanages full-time. Since answering the call, the Fund’s total purchases for food, school supplies, shoes, uniforms, backpacks, advanced education, medical needs, appliances, health, safety and welfare improvements for the children in Mazatlan’s orphanages totals over $332,500! More than providing funds for these orphans, Donelle and the volunteers and donors she has cultivated have made a lifetime investment in the children of Mazatlan, Mexico. It’s an investment that will powerfully alter the lives of the children at the five orphanages they serve.
Alan Shelton
Linda Kramer
Maggie Dunne
Mike Penketh
Before his 1993 racecar accident, Mike Penketh was a pilot for a major airline. After the accident, with both arms amputated below the elbow, he felt lost. Through hard work in rehab, he gained profficiency using his myo-electric prosthetic hands and managed to retain both his driver’s and pilot’s license. His career with the major airline was finished, however.
In 1997, Mike found an article describing the Sacramento-based disability-awareness group, A Touch of Understanding (ATOU), whose mission is: “to encourage acceptance and respect for all individuals.” Its educational programs are designed to enhance understanding of differences, to minimize the discrimination and social isolation often suffered by children and adults with disabilities.
Mike contacted ATOU’s founder, Leslie DeDora, and the world of volunteerism and community involvement opened up for him. For the past 13 years, he has been a speaker for ATOU and has traveled over 100,000 miles doing this volunteer work. He volunteers two days per week during the school year, traveling 100 miles roundtrip each day for presentations.
Mike has shared his story with more than 40,000 students. At every school presentation, he gets to experience the impact of his work. He sees the awe and inquisitive looks on the student’s faces as they listen to his story and watch him remove his myo-electric hands. During the question and answer section of the presentation, the students get to know him and begin to understand his world.
In Mike’s words, “ATOU has given me the opportunity to share my story and my daily life with young students whose minds are open. I hope that after spending time with me, the students see that I’m not just a man with funny prosthetic hands – but I am a person who likes popcorn and loves my dogs, Magy and Joyce.”
According to Mike, volunteering with “ATOU has been a lifesaver. It has given me a purpose in my life and I am hopeful that I am helping to change the minds of young people when they meet people with disabilities.”
Dianne Guillot
In 2009 alone, Dianne Guillot logged in 1,800 volunteer hours. She has served on the Advisory Board of both Retired Senior Volunteer Program and on the Community Emergency Response Team since 2004 and is president of the board of Communities Acting to Benefit Louisiana’s Elderly.
Diane has been a Board Member at Large of the West Monroe High School Alumni Association since its inception and she has been the Monroe Chapter President of the Retired State Employees Association since 1999. She has been very involved with the Northeast Central Louisiana Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and, as a 17 year breast cancer survivor, has served as a lobbyist for the cause in Washington, D.C., and is the Cure chair for local Race.
What Dianne finds most rewarding is leading cancer patients to become involed with helping others as part of the healing process. Dianne works with disadvantaged women and children with speech and hearing problems through Quota International. She is on the Senior Olympics Board of Directors and participates in the games.
Dianne helped found West Monroe Little League Baseball and founded the Challenger League for West Monroe’s disabled children. Dianne was known to push a wheelchair around the bases and even carry a child and run the bases with him so that even with braces on his legs he’d feel the thrill of getting a run.
Dianne has been a Red Cross shelter volunteer since 1991 and in 2006 was presented the RSVP Senior Corps Spirit of Service Award by the Corporation of National and Community Service for her shelter work with hurricanes Katrina and Rita. During those hurricanes, Dianne helped over 3,000 victims have food, shelter, find needed resources to help them put their lives back together. In the shelter she recruits the victims to volunteer to help each other, giving them a feeling of hope and better things to come.