Action Jack Jackson: “No matter how long you live, let part of it count for your having been here for awhile. Try to make a difference.” Born in South Africa, the youngest in a family of 10 children, Jack helped tend to a brother who had mental retardation and epilepsy. “I’ve been doing volunteer work all my life. I learned early on I am my brother’s keeper.” Leprechaun Jack and his pot o' green.

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"Whenever people see me coming," says Houston philanthropist Jack Jackson, "they think, What's he collecting for now? Either they reach for their billfolds, or they turn their faces to the wall. But I don't know many people's backs."

Jackson has inspired many an open billfold during his lifetime. He turns 80 years old on March 1, and spent most of those years working hard for numerous causes and charities. Why? "The bottom line is," Jackson says, "you've got hands. They might as well be helping hands."

  Jackson's lifetime of service started early in his childhood. Born in South Africa the youngest in a family of 10 children, he helped tend to a brother who had mental retardation and epilepsy. "I've been doing volunteer work all my life," he says modestly. "I learned early on I am my brother's keeper."

Jackson began to serve Houston's gay community when he started to hear about people getting sick in the early 1980s. "People out there were hurting," he remembers, "and they needed to know somebody cared about them."

Before it was even known what caused the disease, he invited a group of people to his house to begin gathering information. They formed a committee that became the predecessor to the AIDS Foundation Houston. The group eventually raised funds to print and distribute the first safe-sex pamphlet in the nation, which, as activist Ray Hill noted during a seventieth birthday roast for Jackson, probably saved thousands of lives.

Jackson was a participant in the 1984 Walk for Unity, which raised funds for the Montrose Counseling Center, Montrose Clinic, and the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, and he brought in the most money as an individual for the city's first two AIDS walks. These efforts and others have earned him citywide recognition, including The Diana Foundation's award for community service in 1986, the mayor's community service award from Kathryn Whitmire in 1990, grand marshal of the Pride Parade in 1991, the Houston Black Tie Dinner Humanitarian Award in 1995, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Executive and Professional Association of Houston in 1999.

Jackson says he never sought the spotlight during all those years, but it seems to have found him and has shone brightly upon him many times. The high visibility that came to him later in life is a stark contrast to the late 1950s when he came to Houston at age 25. He had immigrated here to be with his sister, whose husband was the brew master for Howard Hughes' Grand Prize Brewery. Jackson was immediately struck by Houston's "friendliness, open sky and wide-open places. I fell in love with Texas, and I like to say it fell in love with me."

Houston's gay community at that time, Jackson reflects, was "very, very closeted." He recalls that there were just a few gay bars, and many of their names, like Effie's Pink Elephant, alluded to their own clientele in somewhat of a put-down manner. He says being gay was "very much looked down upon at that time." There were pretty tough restrictions on gay life then, including police enforcements.

As for gay life in 2005, Jackson notes, "Without a doubt, it is out ! But the bottom line is you don't throw it in people's faces. People should have some self-respect and act in a dignified manner. T o quote Oscar Wilde, 'You don't want to be like a brass band and fight the horses in the street.'

"I don't think of myself first as a gay person. I'm just a person. I lead an ordinary sort of life. I have good neighbors. I shop in the same places as other people. I might have a few quirk--but don't we all!"

Speaking of quirks, Jackson has been working on a new twist for his leprechaun costume, which he has worn as an annual tradition since the late 1980s as mascot of the Montrose Counseling Center's Bringin' in the Green fundraising event held around St. Patrick's Day. Every year, je likes to come up with new ways for patrons to plaster him bills.

"I knew from the start that I'd need some kind of gimmick," Jackson reminisces. "So I went to the store, bought some green fabric, cut it into strips, and hung it around my neck. I got some magic markers, made dollar signs on it, and got a package of pins. We had several hundred people come and pin money on me. But I got tired of being stuck with these pins!"

Now, as an octogenarian, life is simpler for Jackson. In his former career, he was general manager for a marine transportation company that operated deep-sea tugs and barges. For the last 12 years he has worked part time as an assistant to a real estate agent, a job Jackson admits keeps him off the streets. "Now I thank the Lord for each day," he says. "I wake up every morning and say 'I'm still here!'"

There's room for a whole new generation of movers and shakers in our community, and Jackson had these words of encouragement for anyone thinking of joining their ranks: "To me, no matter how long you live, let part of it count for you're having been here for awhile. Try to make a difference. You have to care about other people."

Jackson found his own inspiration for leadership from within himself. He says he has been guided by a very simple personal credo: "Everybody needs love. I've got a great capacity. Everybody needs a hug. I give the best in town. Sometimes, people just need a bowl of soup. And I make damn good soup."

Joe Milano profiled both DIFFA Houston and PWA Holidays Charities for our December issue.