Anne Marie Helbling

Anne Marie Helbling organized the Wounded Warrior Celebration for wounded soldiers and their families from Fort Sam Houston’s Brooks Army Medical Center. She also setup, numbered, hosted, and cleaned up behind 1,500 Parade Customers that raised $25,000 for the Paseo del Rio Association.

The Wounded Warrior Celebration provided opportunity for young people to serve, including college students and dozens of high school students, and mobilized the community to raise funds for the city’s top tourist attraction, the San Antonio Riverwalk. They also established and conducted ongoing relationships between the residents of San Antonio and the community of the Fort Sam Houston Brooks Army Medical Center.

Some things are different as a result of Anne Marie's service. Young students have learned the fulfillment of servant leadership and giving back to the community, a relationship has been established between the soldiers and members of the community that will help the wounded warriors in the transition to jobs in the community, and funding for the maintenance and expansion of the city’s famed Riverwalk will continue to encourage the recovery of the San Antonio downtown core through tourism.

Annie Helbling’s community service event is a reflection of a lifestyle which fosters impressive accomplishments. She has tirelessly volunteered in countless events, such as the Holiday River Parade for ten years and has the distinction of earning the Ten Year-Ten Thousand Customer milestone. She has routinely delivered Meals on Wheels to the San Antonio senior citizens for years, surpassing the 1,000 meal delivery record long ago. Her summers are spent as a counselor at the Brooks City Base Challenger Center where she has volunteered to teach grade school students the wonders of the NASA Space Program and space exploration. Throughout the year she leads her high school Red Cross Club to numerous volunteer activities, always with the focus on servant leadership. She is a force multiplier, gathering scores of volunteers and motivating them through recognition such as the Presidents Volunteer Service Award where verified volunteer activities are tabulated and awards are presented to volunteers at set milestones.