Alan Walne follows the old adage: “If somebody doesn’t put something in, then you end up with nothing coming back.”
That’s why he gives unselfishly to his community and raises thousands of dollars for charity organizations.
“This is not an effort for me – it comes naturally,” Walne says.
Walne’s inspiration was his late father, Herbert M. Walne Jr., who opened the first Herb’s Paint and Body Shop in 1956 on Northwest Highway. Herb Walne was considered a community leader in Lake Highlands and was a charter member of the Exchange Club.
Today, Alan oversees four stores located throughout the Dallas area and lives two houses from his childhood home with wife Joan and children Sarah, 16, and Robert, 14.
His successful business, he says, makes it easier for him to do what he does – fund-raising and community volunteerism.
“A lot of people dread fund-raising, but I really enjoy doing this,” he says. “Part of the fun is getting to the goal.”
For the past three years, Walne has sponsored a golf tournament to raise funds for the Dallas chapter of Mother’s Against Drunk Driving. Held in the fall, the tournament has brought in $38,000 for MADD.
“You have to have a belief in what you’re doing,” Walne says.
“It’s not that I’m against people drinking, it’s just when you get behind a wheel. It’s a scary thought that you could change someone’s life.”
Margaret Collins, executive director of the Dallas County Chapter of MADD, says fund-raising is to provide enough services to victims.
The money Walne raises stays in Dallas to pay for the rehabilitation of victims, educational programs and the cost of fighting cases in court, Collins says.
“Without Alan Walne’s leadership, the money for these services would not be there,” Collins says.
Walne also is active in the neighborhood Young Life ministry program. He and his wife were regional board members and serve on the local group’s fund-raising committee, which he chaired for two years.
Their children are members of Young Life. The Lake Highlands Young Life program, which has one of the largest memberships in the country, offers teens a positive peer group – something Walne says is needed more than ever today.
“I became a Christian through a Young Life Camp – it’s something I believe in,” Walne says.
Walne has been a Lake Highlands Exchange Club member for more than 10 years and is involved in his children’s school activities
Walne is quick to give credit to his wife for her work in the community. Joan is a member of the Lake Highland’s Women’s League, a sustainer in the Dallas Junior League, the President of the Lake Highlands Junior High PTA and volunteers at Children’s Medical Center.
Walne also finds the time to serve on various civic boards. Appointed by Councilman Donna Halstead, Walne just finished a fourth term with the Dallas Parks Board, serving as chairman of the administrative and finance committee. As the District 10 representative, Walne says he worked to make sure Lake Highlands received its share of funds from last Spring’s bond election.
Walne recently began a five-year term on the Dallas Civil Service Board, which hears appeals from City employees who feel they have been unjustly terminated or discriminated against.
“I’ll be dealing with people’s livelihoods. That will be hard,” he says.
Walne says he is one of many in the Lake Highlands area who give unselfishly to better their neighborhood.
“This is not a community that sits back and waits for someone else to do something for you,” Walne says.
“It may not always be fun, but someone has to do these things – it has to do with giving back to the community.”
