Everyday heroes
Monique Celedon, a realtor and community volunteer, started a busy food pantry in Manor that operates out of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church. It gives out hot meals and distributes large boxes of food to those in need. (Ralph Barrera photo)

Monique Celedon, a realtor and community volunteer, started a busy food pantry in Manor that operates out of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church. It gives out hot meals and distributes large boxes of food to those in need. (Ralph Barrera photo)

Kevin Deramus, director of Washington County’s Emergency Medical Service, arranged for access to a helicopter for emergency medical transport and scrambled to find personal protective equipment for his co-workers. (Sarah Beal photo)
Traci Campbell is the director of dining for Chartwells K12 which provides food service for the Giddings school district. The district began handing out hundreds of meal bags to students after schools closed. (Ralph Barrera photo)
Robert Gillespie, an emergency department nurse at Ascension Seton Bastrop hospital, sees suspected COVID-19 cases every day. (Sarah Beal photo)
Dr. Karen Smith is a family medicine doctor at Baylor Scott & White Clinic in Manor. She has gone beyond her medical practice to help members of the community in other ways. Not only does she treat COVID-19 patients and others at the Manor clinic — and virtually through telemedicine — she works with community groups that provide food for those in need and call to check on people who are older and homebound. She is also a Bluebonnet member. (Ralph Barrera photo)
Instead of selling 2,500 gallons of bourbon aging in barrels to wholesalers, the 10-year-old company converted that alcohol into sought-after hand sanitizer. “We initially gave away 1,000 gallons to city and county first responders, EMS and area hospitals,” said Anthony Chiappetta, vice president of engineering at Bone Spirits. (Sarah Beal photo)
With access to a supply chain of sanitizing wipes, disinfectant, medical-grade gloves and masks — items suddenly impossible to find anywhere else - the Lockhart Square store worked tirelessly to sell these virus-stopping items at cost. (Ralph Barrera photo)
Vlad estimates that as of mid-May, they had made 5,000 masks for workers in local government, public safety, utilities and more. She donated 1,000 to nursing homes, a clinic and other spots. (Ralph Barrera photo)
The food pantry in Lockhart served the most families in its history in March after the coronavirus hit, said Meredith Jakovich, executive director of the nonprofit. (Ralph Barrera photo)
Villere had to creatively think of ways to teach more than 700 special education students in their homes at a time when teachers were home, too. Teachers stuffed crayons, craft projects and books into envelopes to mail to students. (Sarah Beal photo)

By Melissa Segrest

They are our neighbors, family, friends and co-workers. The most essential of workers across Central Texas includes the doctors, nurses and medical staffers; the food pantry workers and donors; and the emergency first responders.

But there are others: the teacher working from behind a computer instead of in front of a classroom to keep students learning, the dressmaker who started mass-producing masks for the community, and the small distillery that switched from making bourbon to pumping out hand sanitizer.

Their actions don’t make the evening news. They aren’t walking away wealthy from their efforts, and they aren’t seeking medals. They are just good people who want to help others.

The 10 people profiled here are a sample of the innumerable Bluebonnet-area residents choosing to help their communities. They may not consider themselves heroes, but together their efforts are heroic.

Read more about them: Download a PDF of the full story.

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