We're starting 2012 by honoring several people who are committed to enriching their communities, some through their professional roles, some as volunteers.

Although each of the recipients of the 2012 West County Journal Awards is involved in the community in a different way, they all share a common passion to make West County a stronger, more vibrant place in which to work and live.

The 2012 honorees are Nancy Rutkowski of Wildwood, Dr. Jeff Dalin of Chesterfield, Brother Leo Slay of Wildwood, and Milton Hieken of Clayton.

Nancy Rutkowski

For Nancy Rutkowski, 64, her four dogs are not just pets but partners in lending a hand in her community.

For example, since August, she and her 7-year-old Hovawart, Amadeus, have volunteered with the Legal Advocates for Abused Women's new volunteer program called Pets Promoting Healthy Families. The organization is dedicated to helping victims of abuse in times of crisis, working within the legal system. Its Pets Promoting Healthy Families program provides animal-assisted activities for children who have experienced violence or who are living within a domestic violence shelter.

Volunteers assist the children in learning healthy ways of showing love while they interact with the therapy animals.

"Our pet partner teams are trained and screened to visit in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other facilities," Rutkowski said.

She first got involved in helping others with three of her dogs 16 years ago while taking part in a therapy dog program in an animal center in southern California.

When she moved here in 2007, she continued working with a local therapy dog program with Amadeus and Brandi, 3, also a Hovawart; two golden retrievers, Star, 9, and Sherry, 10; and two other dogs who have since died.

She and the dogs have visited Saint Louis University Hospital, the VA Center, libraries, schools and retirement centers.

She's registered with both the Delta Therapy Dog program and the Love on a Leash pet-provided therapy program.

One of her children, Paula, started the Pets Promoting Healthy Families group this summer.

"Paula also has a therapy dog, Midge, who's 11 and a golden retriever," Rutkowski said. "I think what she's doing is wonderful. This program introduces dogs to families who've been forced to leave homes due to abuse. If you love dogs and you can't have one, it makes a big difference to bring a dog in."

Paula isn't the only family member helping out. John, Rutkowski's husband of 44 years, is also registered in a therapy dog program to work with Amadeus. The pair, who both work as real estate agents, are also parents to children Janice and Robert and grandparents of three.

Rutkowski took some of her dogs to Joplin two days after the 2011 tornado.

"Those victims who just sat quiet, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster that had befallen them, opened up with the dogs there," Rutkowski said.

Dr. Jeff Dalin

Dr. Jeff Dalin, a dentist with a practice in Creve Coeur, is one of the cofounders of the volunteer group Give Kids a Smile.

For the last 10 years, the organization has hosted free dental clinics for children who normally don't have access to dental care. Two-day clinics are held every February and October.

Over the past decade, the organization has provided 10,000 local children with $4.2 million worth of services with the help of more than 8,400 dental professionals who volunteer.

"We're very proud of that," said Dalin, 55, who serves as secretary-treasurer on the organization's board of directors.

The program started in 2001 when a committee of the Greater St. Louis Dental Society wanted to come up with a way to give back to the community.

"A lot of dentists do missionary dentistry around the world, but we wanted to figure out how to do something in our own backyard because we have problems here," Dalin said. "I had just previously done a program for 200 local kids in need of clothing, and I said to the committee that I knew these kids needed dental care, too, and had no access, so why not work on their teeth?"

Four months later, the first clinic was put on.

During the clinics, Dalin runs the triage area, where he determines treatments based on the severity of each child's condition.

"We make huge differences in the lives of the kids and in the lives of the volunteers," Dalin said. "I really enjoy reading letters from children, parents, teachers and guidance counselors telling us stories of how our clinic has improved lives."

For instance, a middle-school girl who came to a clinic had always been in trouble at school, her guidance counselor had said. The girl came to school dishevelled, got into fights, and didn't do her work.

"We found she had needed a root canal and other things, and, two days later, she went back to school as a totally different child, a model student," Dalin said. "She'd been in pain, and we got her out of pain."

Dalin can't wait to hear of the first clinic child who later goes to dental school.

In its first year in existence, the program was adopted by the American Dental Association as its national children's dental access program. That means the program is being replicated in some form or another nationwide, allowing millions of kids to benefit based on what started in St. Louis.

Dalin, has been married to his wife, Debbie, for 26 years and is the father of three children, Jamie, Zachary and Andy. He said no matter how much good the program has done, more is needed.

"GKAS is supported by donations and grants, but we also always are in need of more dental professionals," he said.

Leo Slay

In the Marianist order for 62 years, Brother Leo Slay, 80, has served the last 20 years as food service consultant for public and Catholic schools, as well as other institutions.

"I grew up in the food service business," said Slay, uncle of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. "I worked in my family's Slay's restaurants as a youth.

"When I joined the Marianists, they asked me what I'd like to do, and, when I said food service, they almost fell over because they had a hard time getting people involved in that. But I had always loved food and stuck with it."

For 40 years, Slay was food service director for local Marianist schools. He was responsible for everything from buying food to planning menus for students at Chaminade Preparatory School, St. John Vianney High School and St. Mary's High School.

In the early 1960s, he founded the Metro Food Service Co-op, a food purchasing group that has since ceased operations.

He's also worked with Operation Food Search from about 1987 to this past year to get food donated and to get meals for the group's annual golf tournament. He still works to get donations for the group.

He belongs to the Greater St. Louis Restaurant Association and other associations of chefs and school food services. He serves as president of some of them and has helped with various activities and helped to raise funds.

He was among the 2011 class of Ageless-Remarkable Saint Louisans, presented by St. Andrews Resources for Seniors System, which recognizes accomplishments of older adults.

There's a lot of need for food in this community, he said.

"Whenever you're of service to people, you help them have a better life, and that makes you feel better, as well as it being part of my duties to help others," Slay said. "A meal gets people together. You serve good food to people, and they react better. It's doing the Lord's work."

Milton Hieken

Milton Hieken, 81, serves as a donor and volunteer with organizations including the Saint Louis Symphony, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis Zoo, Missouri Botanical Garden, Jewish Federation, Operation Food Search and Jazz St. Louis.

When he retired as a McDonnell-Douglas engineer in 1995, Hieken wanted to do something to give back to the community.

"I've been lucky through my life in having an education and cultural places available to me that I want to see continue," he said. "I contribute to them as best I can. And I volunteer time, mostly with the symphony."

For the last 10 years, he's been volunteering with a group that gives tours to young people after the Young Peoples Concerts at Powell Hall.

In the past, he's volunteered with Operation Food Search, working on one of their trucks to pick up surplus food donations from supermarkets and restaurants.

He has been married for 17 years to wife, Barbara Barenholtz, and is the father of three, Steven, Elaine and Andrew, and stepfather of four, Robert, Betsy, Bill and Barbie. Hieken also was among the 2011 class of Ageless-Remarkable Saint Louisans.

"I think a lot of these non-profits are kind of fragile, and it's important for them to be here, because it makes the community better," he said. "I enjoy helping. I get a lot out of it."