Michelle Walker 
A Reasonable Standard of a Genuine Do-Gooder

Michelle Walker heard the call to public service at an early age. Each day Michelle's mother sent her to the grocery store. On her way, Michelle's mother also told her daughter to check in with several elderly neighbors to see if they needed food as well. "By the time I got to the store, " Michelle remembers, "I had four or five different lists and four pockets of money." News of her responsibility spread, and soon the teen-ager was providing another service: reading the mail for neighbors who weren't able to do it themselves. "I didn't realize this was a community service, " says Walker. "I just knew my neighbors didn't have the resources. It was up to me."

Years later, Michelle Walker is still helping those who don't have the resources. Since 1996, she has been Director of Community Programs for the Syracuse University Public Affairs program, working with students to discover and nurture their spirit of public service. She's pretty good at it: last year, some 125 students put in over 19,000 hours of community service at 40 agencies (equaling a minimum wage value of more than $88,000).

Michelle is also deeply involved in East-side Neighbors in Partnership, an organization that provides affordable and decent housing to lower-income folks as well as renovates some of Syracuse's once elegant homes now in disrepair. She is also vice-president of the 17th Ward Democratic Committee, a position that allows her to stay invested in the local politics of her community. As busy as Michelle is, she still finds time for her family, tennis lessons and finding bargains in the shopping malls. Michelle doesn't consider herself a "saint", instead she says, "I honestly don't believe you can live anywhere-city, country or suburb-and not contribute to the welfare of your community."