When Richard White received a call from The New Mexican, he thought he was in trouble. In fact, White had been named one of the newspaper’s 10 Who Made a Difference for 2023 for his years of volunteer work with a range of nonprofits that tackle important causes — from pets in need of homes to people with Parkinson’s disease, children grieving a loss and families affected by domestic violence.

“He just said, ‘I was in such a shock,’ ” recalled Marsie Silvestro, who nominated him for the honor.

White told her, “I thought somebody called because I did something,” she said. “And I said, ‘Like what, Richard?’ ”

As his initial reaction shows, White isn’t used to public recognition. But he said the honor made him feel “humbled and grateful.”

White has a long record of service to the community, but he said the two causes closest to his heart are Gerard’s House, which provides support for grieving children in Northern New Mexico, and Punching Out Parkinson’s, which offers fitness classes to patients with Parkinson’s disease.

White grew up in Santa Fe and went to work at the family business, an insurance company, after college. In 1993, he decided to “create his own shadow” and started a bookkeeping company that eventually focused more on the nascent world of computers.

One of his clients volunteered with the Española Humane Society, which was having an auction and needed help. White agreed to assist in running the event, and then another, and eventually was managing charity auctions so frequently it became a full-time job.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, however, he had to shift gears.

Silvestro met White in 2013 just after she became executive director of Esperanza Shelter, which offers services, support and shelter to victims of domestic abuse. The organization was planning an event and needed help with the details. She received a recommendation for White.

Almost immediately after he began working with the shelter, White started to focus on the ways he could help personally, beyond his business relationship with the organization, Silvestro said.

He convinced his son to teach yoga to some of the women living at the shelter and would often call and ask what was needed and how the staff was holding up.

“He was someone who really cared, genuinely,” she said. Directors of other nonprofits around town told her similar stories about White.

For many years, he was president of the Park Plazas homeowners association, where he now serves as community manager. But he was looking for a more meaningful way to give back. His friend at the association, Tom Carr, was on the board of directors at Gerard’s House and encouraged White to do a site visit in 2009, and see what the work was all about.

White’s own father had died just a few months prior, and he was instantly drawn to the organization’s work of helping children who have lost a love one.

“It really did feel like home in a lot of ways,” he said.

For the past 12 years, White has run a grief support group for kids ages 7 to 10 at the organization, helping them develop the tools to cope with grief and loss. It isn’t always easy, but it’s some of the most meaningful work he’s ever done, he said.

“It’s just amazing what kids endure,” White said.

Some of the children in his group have found their own parents dead from suicide or drug overdoses, or have parents who are incarcerated.

White eventually became board president at Gerard’s

House, and said he’s proud of how the organization has grown over the past decade.

Director Nicole Maes-Gonzales said she appreciates White’s work as president, but noted he really makes an impact as a group leader, where by now he’s worked with hundreds of kids.

“They need to know they’re not alone and there’s someone with them on their journey, and Richard’s been that person,” she said.

At Punching Out Parkinson’s, White works with people at the other end of the spectrum: senior citizens dealing with the physical and psychological ramifications of Parkinson’s disease.

White serves as treasurer for the nonprofit, and in 2017 got trained as a coach to lead exercise classes for clients, a position that comes with a small stipend.

The organization was founded by his friend and Pilates trainer Adrienne Scurbet, who also knew White from his work at Park Plazas.

“I was so impressed with his patience and kindness in difficult situations,” Scurbet said, something he’s carried with him into his coaching work.

“All of our participants love him because he cares,” she said. “You can tell that he cares. They can feel that.”

White’s son Tyler White — who offered yoga classes at Esperanza — said an attitude of caring is something his father has carried with him all of his life.

His father has always been community-oriented and is driven by helping others and watching them succeed, Tyler White said, adding it’s something he’s carried into his own work as a soul alchemy practitioner.

The details of his and his father’s work are different, Tyler White said, but the common thread is that “people feel supported and loved and a part of something greater than themselves.”