Retired teacher, farmer and lifetime volunteer Ronald Richard TePoel received the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Humanitarian Award from Minnesota State University, Mankato last week.
TePoel, of San Antonio, Texas, is one of 12 alumni who are 2010 award winners. He was honored at an April 23 dinner and ceremony hosted by the Minnesota State Mankato Alumni Association.
The Humanitarian Award goes to Minnesota State Mankato graduates whose lives exemplify service to humankind, and who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to humanitarian causes.
One of 17 children, TePoel grew up on a dairy farm in rural Minnesota. He and his family sometimes depended on the charity of others to get by, and TePoel never forgot that. “My goal has been to return that love whenever possible,” he says.
He has spent his lifetime doing that: volunteering with Head Start, counseling senior citizens, answering a teen crisis hotline, teaching Sunday school, advocating for women’s and civil rights, counseling people through drug and alcohol addiction. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, TePoel volunteered with the Red Cross.
He also has volunteered with homeless shelters, food shelves, the Salvation Army and Big Brothers Big Sisters. He has counseled Vietnam veterans and active military families. He has advocated for Native American rights and has volunteered as a reserve cop and for Habitat for Humanity, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Haiti relief efforts.
“I am a bit uncomfortable with praise,” he says. “I believe in living by example. Just do it and move on.”
Those who want more information about the awards may go to http://www.mnsu.edu/alumni/daa/2010awards.html.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive, doctoral university with 14,950 students, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, which comprises 32 institutions across the state.
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