When he retired from the San Antonio Police Department last year, Patrick Sandoval warned us not to expect that he would be easy to reach, as he had things to do!
Surely enough, Patrick spent the next several weeks crawling up ladders, through attics and across roofs of elderly neighbors whose names had accumulated on his list of 'elderly neighbors who need help repairing their houses'.
When he finished this list, Patrick warned us not to expect him to have time to 'waste' in any meetings, as he now planned to spend the rest of his life, as he put it, "making the Highlands area once again a place where my grandchildren will want to live."
And so Patrick launched into his third career as a full-time volunteer, managing the office of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church three days a week, serving as a lay minister along with his wife, and coordinating zone captains as the Volunteer Code Compliance Coordinator for Highland Park Neighborhood Association. As Assistant Director of the Highlands Alliance, a coalition of neighborhood associations in southeast San Antonio, Patrick actively coordiantes all aspects of neighborhood activity to help implement the Highlands Community Plan which he helped to develop in recent years.
Patrick Sandoval is truly a 'neighbor of the year' for all of us this year!