Jim Miller living the Wimberley Way

Living in Wimberley can really get to you – in a good way. People strive to get a little piece of land in the valley before they leave the big city job. Stress and living so close to others is not the way for some people and country life is the only medicine. Helping others can go hand in hand with that.

Sharing and helping others can bring personal satisfaction. One can achieve it in the many volunteer opportunities in the valley, something that is a big part of the town’s history. A barn needs raising, neighbors will help. It is a tradition that continues to this day. There’s a flood, the whole community pitches in and digs out and helps however they can.

For many, there are plenty of day-to-day volunteer opportunities around town, some connected to churches, some for the non-profits, what would be the best fit? Crisis Bread Basket or Habitat for Humanity? Maybe, Keep Wimberley Beautiful or help with the Cypress Creek or the Blanco River?

That is a load of questions, and decisions can be hard. But for Jim Miller, why not volunteer for just about all of them? You have probably seen Jim in a brightly colored vest picking up trash, taking water samples, helping Big Builds with the Carpenter’s Helpers, around Martha Knies Park and Cypress Creek Nature Trail, helping with the community’s needs every way he can.

He became acquainted with Wimberley and the area while attending Southwest Texas, now Texas State. After graduation, he needed a job and having been in the Navy as a diver he became an underwater welder in the Gulf living in Houston. “It sounds more romantic than it is. It’s not recommended… I worked in Houston a little while. I left with no money, but no regrets.”

He moved to Wimberley and was a welder for Jim Winn for a while and one of the early EMT volunteers, when it was an all-volunteer unit, working the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift then going to work.

He retired about 5 years ago and became a Master Naturalist. Before he could identify about 50 percent of the plants on his property. Now he can identify about 90 percent. He got involved with water quality and Blue Hole and Jacob’s Well.

He is always looking for more volunteering opportunities.

“After I retired, I was looking for something to do. I was wandering around the Community Center and someone said the food bank needs help. That’s how I became acquainted with the Carpenter’s Helpers.” A local group of volunteer carpenters, they helped with the covered porch addition at the Crisis Breadbasket.

Through the Carpenters Helpers he became involved with Habitat for Humanity and helped with, “a half dozen homes. The last was Big Build number 22.” He also helped with the reconstruction of the Village Store.

He has built blessing boxes for Amigos de Jesus featured around town with staples inside for those that need food and got the fountain at the Martha Knies Park to work.

“Everybody said to fill it in. It’s not 100 percent, but it’s a big draw for visitors. It’s nice to see the fish swimming around.” He’s also helped at the Patsy Glenn Refuge, ‘“to control erosion” after recent construction in the area.

The most rewarding for Jim is to “work with older folks, building handrails and ramps.” One incident sticks out.

He was alerted at the food bank that there was an area of need. “One lady was living in a camper and had no door, just a sheet covering the doorway. We (Carpenters Helpers) put in a door for her. A little thing can mean so much.”

Volunteering to help keep the valley and small town livable, even in these times of pandemic is something that Jim Miller likes to do. It also happens to be the Wimberley Way.