One of them recounted two unwavering years spent teaching English to an immigrant family.

Another told the story of a life spent volunteering and fundraising.

The third recalled the time she organized a group of “crazy ladies” to park their cars next to drug dealers at an East Palo Alto playground so children could come back and play safely.

Casually progressing through both brief lulls of reminiscence and healthy bursts of laughter, Joan Karlin, Ador Escoto and Jennifer Jackson told their personal histories of public service to an audience of over 100 faculty, staff and students at a reception in the Tresidder Oak Room yesterday at noon. The three Stanford staff members were honored at the winter quarter “Community Treasures” lunch, an event sponsored by the Office of the President to recognize Stanford staff members who are active in community volunteerism. Special counselor to the President LaDoris Cordell moderated the event, which covered both the personal lives of the trio as well as their service records.

Karlin, the associate dean for administration in Student Affairs, was recognized for her work helping an immigrant Russian family adapt to life in the United States.

Hearing a rabbi speak in 1980 about his visit to the Soviet Union changed her life, Karlin said. Following the sermon, she was introduced to a woman who connected members of the congregation to Jews who had recently taken refuge in America.

“It caught me at a time when I had the time and money,” Karlin said. “It’s a way of giving back, to touch my roots.”

After being matched with the family, she went to their home in Menlo Park once a week for two years to tutor English. Her students have since flourished and maintain a close friendship with Karlin.

Ador Escoto, a finance management analyst at the Medical School, has been active in public service since his college days — an urge driven by an “obsession to help people in need,” he said.

Since arriving at Stanford, he has rallied over $6,000 toward earthquake relief and book donations for his native Philippines, and $3,000 for the Haas Center for Public Service. Besides regularly donating his own money to the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross and charities for breast cancer and diabetes, Escoto has also been a prolific community organizer in his Filipino hometown as well as a volunteer firefighter following Sept. 11.

Jackson, an employee at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, founded the annual Children’s Day in East Palo Alto 15 years ago. She is currently a registrar for the Adolescent Health Van, a mobile clinic that offers free health care to homeless and uninsured teens in the Bay Area. She was named a “Local Hero” by KQED-TV in 2004 and now, after 35 years of community activism, has yet to show signs of slowing down.

“Anybody who knows me,” Jackson wrote in an e-mail read by Cordell at the reception, “knows I will fight until the bitter end for something I believe in, especially if it’s helping the underserved. But I want people to know, there is always something we can all do to make a difference.”

In particular, her stories of altruistic but naive Stanford doctors who ventured into East Palo Alto’s notoriously rough Sacramento Street drew laughter from the receptive audience.

After the event, Cordell was met by many audience members who praised her dexterous interviewing skills and expressed their appreciation for the lunch series.

“I’m happy to do this,” Cordell said. “It gets me energized, because this is only the tip of the iceberg. So many staff and faculty are involved outside campus and changing lives. It’s my goal to find those people and honor them.”

Cordell also stressed that the lunches serve as an excellent platform for community activists to not only talk about their work, but also spread their message.

“Most students might not care so much about staff, compared to faculty, but it’s very important to come here and get inspired,” she said.

Karlin agreed.

“It seems like a nice way to communicate to the Stanford community that we are, in fact, a part of the broader community,” she added.

The lunch series was the brainchild of Cordell, who first organized a dinner at the Haas Center in Fall 2004 to recognize over 200 faculty and staff members who were active in community service. In response to the success of that event, Senior Assistant to the President Jeff Wachtel and Cordell decided to expand the program to make it a quarterly lunchtime series beginning this past fall.

With two “Community Treasures” lunches already under her belt, Cordell said she feels very confident about the sustainability of the series. When asked if she had any larger ambitions for the future of the program, Cordell shrugged off the question without hesitation.

“No,” she responded immediately with a big, comfortable smile. “This is beautiful. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”