BROWNSVILLE — Alonso “Tiny” Barrientes knows the value of volunteerism, both to a community and to those doing the volunteering.
Barrientes has been volunteering ever since he got out of the U.S. Marine Corps back in the early 1970s. Beyond just lending a hand to this project or that, Barrientes has become an expert at utilizing volunteer help to accomplish various community events, among them the runs, walks and marches for which he is well known.
“Any event, without volunteers you can’t do it,” he says.
Barrientes said he “learned how to do projects” through the Brownsville Jaycees, which he joined soon after coming home from Vietnam in 1970.
He had been a runner since being part of the Brownsville High School cross country team that brought home the city’s first state championship in any sport in 1967. He has continued to run, although he does less of it now because of his knees. He qualified four times for the Boston Marathon, his best time being two hours, 46 minutes, he said.
When he started the Brownsville Marathoners Running Club in 1976, the city didn’t have such a group. The club continues to run the annual Run For Your Heart Turkey Trot the weekend before Thanksgiving and the Charro Days Classic held in conjunction with Charro Days and Sombrero Festival in February. The race is the oldest foot race in the Rio Grande Valley.
Both require lots of volunteer help. Barrientes said the running club has a crew of volunteers who make the events happen. Everyone knows their part, but additional volunteers are always needed.
In 1998, he and others noticed that Brownsville did not have a Memorial Day event of its own, and the Memorial Day Silent March was born. The march from the H-E-B on Central Boulevard to the Brownsville Veterans Park next to the Brownsville Public Library is silent because the event is a tribute to the men and women who have lost their lives in service to their country.
“That first event I had more patrol cars than marchers,” Barrientes said. Over the years, the march has grown in popularity and people wear their patriotic best to participate.
This year was the third year for the Brownsville Veterans Day March, which follows the same route as the Memorial Day event but is different because it celebrates veterans.
“I do that with pride because I’m a veteran myself,” Barrientes, a Purple Heart recipient, said.
“The best volunteer person I have is my spouse Yolanda Barrientes,” he added.
Barrientes said working with groups of volunteers “creates a lot of friendships because you become a leader, you delegate. … If somebody wants an event run, they’ll call Tiny. I have people that help me, and then we turn around and help others with donations. Volunteering is the best work in life.”
