The giving that builds a community

There’s a particular sense of joy that exudes from Michelle Roybal. She’s proof that life can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to control our outlook.

Michelle takes on life the same way she approaches her Down syndrome — with a high level of happiness and excitement. It doesn’t define her. It’s simply part of who she is, and she shares that feeling with everyone she meets.

On a weekday morning in Las Cruces, that spirit blends into work that doesn’t announce itself.

There’s no ribbon cutting, no crowd, no single moment that signals something important is happening. Instead, a handful of people gather around a table blowing up balloons, sorting materials, or having quiet conversations about what a community needs next. It’s time given freely, decisions made carefully, and a kind of work that rarely asks to be seen.

That’s often how it begins — with volunteers.

Long before a grant is awarded or a program takes shape, there are people doing the quiet work of paying attention. They show up to organize, to listen, to ask questions. They trace the outlines of need in a place they know well, even as those needs shift.

Somewhere behind that work, sometimes visible, often not, is the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico.

It doesn’t operate like a single program. Instead, it functions as a hub, where resources and needs meet. The foundation connects donors with causes, manages charitable funds and distributes grants that support everything from education and health care to food security and the arts.

Its reach stretches across southern New Mexico, touching communities that don’t always make headlines but still require sustained investment.

But the foundation itself isn’t what people see.

What they see are the outcomes — a scholarship that opens a door, a nonprofit that keeps its doors open, a program that continues when it otherwise might not. Those outcomes are built piece by piece, often through simple, consistent acts of service.

Volunteers are the ones who make that connection real.

Sometimes that means organizing events or supporting partner organizations. Other times, it’s the small but essential tasks that keep everything moving, the kind of work Christine Hyde has taken on since she began volunteering last July.

The work she does isn’t glamorous, but it keeps things running — donor management, helping around the office, filling in wherever needed.

“I have three things I look for in my volunteer work,” Hyde said. “I need to feel useful, feel appreciated and I need to be having fun.”

She says the Community Foundation meets all three. Volunteering has been part of her life for decades.

“I came here from Oregon by way of California for a family emergency five years ago during COVID, and I'm still here, so I figure while I'm here, I need to be involved in the community,” Hyde said. “I've been volunteering since I was in my mid-30s, even when I was working full-time.”

Her background — first as a flight attendant, then in information systems — carries over into her role, where organization and attention to detail matter.

That instinct extends beyond the foundation. Hyde also volunteers with Soroptimists International, working with the Dream It, Be It program.

“Right now, our focus is on working with the girls at New America School,” Hyde said. “We do different mentoring projects, career stuff. We had one evening where we took them to NMSU and the hospitality people created a very simple dinner, but it was based on etiquette.”

For Hyde, volunteering is simply part of how she lives, balanced alongside travel, line dancing and staying connected to her community.

For others, that connection takes a different form.

Lynn Farthing’s contribution begins with something small: a handwritten note.

She and her husband have long made a habit of sending cards for birthdays and special occasions, a simple gesture that fits naturally into her role with the foundation — writing thank-you notes for endowments and donations.

Her path there came through a connection at NASA/White Sands, but her motivation is rooted in something more personal.

Farthing spent much of her career in banking before working at White Sands. When she retired, she knew she wasn’t ready to slow down completely.

“I’m retired, and I enjoy it,” she said. “It gets me out of the house. I wanted to continue doing something, you know, outside of the retirement realm.”

Like Hyde, Farthing finds satisfaction in the work regardless of the task. Whether it’s a handwritten note or another responsibility, it all contributes to something larger.

That sense of purpose is what draws many volunteers in and keeps them coming back.

For Michelle Roybal and her mother, Sharon, that connection is both personal and rooted in community.

The Roybals first connected with the foundation through a scholarship Michelle received. What began as support has grown into service. Now, they are part of the volunteer effort that helps keep the foundation moving forward.

Sharon says they are drawn to the sense of community — the friendliness and openness that defines the organization. For Michelle, that spirit shows up in everything she does.

She loves music. While she has never sung a solo in public, she has used her sign language skills to interpret songs for others, bringing performances to life in a different way.

That same desire for connection carries into their involvement with the Best Buddies program, in which New Mexico State University students build friendships with people in the community. Michelle has used her sign language there as well.

The Roybals don’t shy away from Michelle’s Down syndrome. They embrace it.

“She was in dance for 11 years and she was also a cheerleader,” Sharon said. “Anything we can get involved in and create inclusion. That has been my goal since she was born.”

Michelle has carried that mindset into advocacy, even traveling to the state capitol to support a license plate recognizing awareness. And she’s built something of her own.

“I have my own business. It's called Magnets and More by Michelle,” she said. “There's a thing I always have in my business that you never give up on your dreams.”

Michelle studied catering and hospitality, but her ambitions stretch further.

“My dream is to be a singer,” Michelle said.

That dream, and the way she shares it, reflects the same spirit that fuels the work happening quietly around her.

In the end, the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico is not just about funding or programs. It’s about people — people willing to show up, give their time and invest in a place they care about.

The foundation provides the structure. Volunteers like Hyde, Farthing and the Roybals give it life.

And in those small, steady moments — in handwritten notes, organized files, shared music and quiet acts of service — a community is built, one piece at a time.