Governor honors Kingsland man for miles of volunteer service
Tom Slavin (back row, second from right) received the 2024 Governor's Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award for Extensive Travel at an April 26 ceremony in Austin. He is pictured with the other 21 award recipients and Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials. TDCJ Facebook photo
Tom Slavin of Kingsland received the 2024 Governor’s Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award for Extensive Travel during an awards ceremony on April 26 in Austin. Slavin traveled over 14,000 miles in fiscal year 2023, volunteering at prisons as a teacher, preacher, and chaplain’s assistant and providing spiritual guidance and support for inmates.
Slavin was one of 22 people and organizations from across the state presented with an award by Texas first lady Cecilia Abbott, Texas Board of Criminal Justice Chairman Eric Nichols, and Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier during the ceremony. He was chosen from among 25,000 total nominations for the awards.
“These volunteers are true heroes,” Collier wrote in a media release. “Their compassion and commitment make a profound and lasting difference in the lives of many Texans. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the entire state, is better because of their service.”
Slavin owns and operates Wayne’s Air and Double T Home Builders in Kingsland and is the founder of U-Too Ministries, which supports communities across the state with weekly meals and bible studies. U-Too also conducts prison outreach, providing spiritual counsel to inmates in prisons across Central Texas.
“I do what I do because I’ve been called to do it,” Slavin told DailyTrib.com. “Jesus put me in this position. I have learned that, everybody, the reason why they’re in prison is because they have low self-esteem. They don’t know who they are. They’ve been taught lies their whole life, and we’re just teaching them what the truth is: They are loved.”
Slavin racked up his 14,000 miles mostly traveling among three prisons each week. He visits the San Saba Unit in San Saba County on Mondays (55 miles from Kingsland), the Gregory S. Coleman Unit in Caldwell County on Wednesdays (96 miles from Kingsland), and the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Coryell County on Fridays (84 miles from Kingsland).
“I do travel a lot,” he said. “But I enjoy it. It’s rewarding.”