If you need a little distraction from the daily headlines, a little something to inspire you to keep pushing yourself to reach a personal best, you may find it here in our 31st annual Altruism Awards. Not only are these advisors at the top of their game professionally, they find the time and the energy to make substantial commitments to causes they care about, both locally and globally.

Every year, Registered Rep. receives dozens of nomination letters from all types of advisors across the country for our annual award (previously entitled The Outstanding Advisor Awards.) Paring the pile down to 10 is never an easy task. However, reading about the high esteem in which colleagues and clients hold our many nominees is evidence that good often prevails over greed in the world of financial services. Indeed, amid all of the recent negative news reports about Wall Street insider trading and other ethical lapses in financial services, it's a great time for a reminder of just how many honest, giving and successful people work in this business.

This year, like most, our selected winners are all over the map in terms of the causes they champion and the methods they use to support those causes. But many of them are very hands-on, whether they work with the world's neediest directly, hand-select and deliver supplies, or commit themselves to intense athletic events for fundraising. These advisors want to have a direct and tangible impact on the world. For example, David Rae cycles in a 7-day race and recruits others to the ride to combat AIDs in Los Angeles; Steven Tonkinson travels to communities in places like Haiti to help them rebuild after natural disasters have struck; Joe Callahan serves food to the homeless and mentors a recovering drug addict in Cincinnati; Patricia Estopinal raises funds for, buys and delivers the supplies for dozens of full Thanksgiving meals to shelters in Sacramento.

All 10 of this year's award winners serve to remind us not only of the human capacity for improving our world, but also to illuminate the creative methods we use to help one another. It's not surprising that financial advisors can be found leading these kinds of efforts. As one of our Advisors With Heart, George Cook says, “I'm not just here to make money to live a big lifestyle. We are entrusted with these resources and have a responsibility to be a steward. It's not hard to take a look around the world and see that there are people less fortunate.”

So, read about this year's 10 winners. You'll come away inspired.

Joe Callahan: Citizen Angel  Plowing the driveways of elderly neighbors after a snowstorm; volunteering at a homeless shelter; serving people food; mentoring a recovering drug addict; coaching a youth basketball league; hosting a men's support group; cutting up and clearing fallen trees in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina — Joe Callahan, principal of Cincinnati-based Callahan & Associates, calls them his “angel activities.” Read more...

George Cook: A Voice for the Voiceless  Financial advisor George Cook displays a pair of steel cuffs once worn by a child slave on his office coffee table. He knows what effect they can have on those who see them for the first time. Cook first saw cuffs like these in the office of a former colleague. When he understood how they had been used, he was aghast, then enraged, and developed a powerful desire to help. Read more...

Patricia Estopinal: Inner City Ally  Patricia Estopinal was fortunate enough to grow up in a middle-class suburban home in New Jersey. But after going to school and settling down in Sacramento, the sixth largest city in California, she became more aware of the problems of the urban poor, and she wanted to give back. Read more...

John P. Hyland: A Personal Stake  In 1993, in his mid-30s and with a growing advisory practice, John P. Hyland began looking for a local non-profit toward which he could devote some time. He chose the New Jersey chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a cause that was dear to him at the time because a beloved aunt had died from AML, a form of blood cancer. Read more...

Kathleen A. Muldoon: Hospital Advocate  Kathleen A. Muldoon is passionate about The Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas. It's a hospital that is known in some distant parts of the world its trauma specialists have trained doctors at every hospital in Israel, for example. But it's the hospital's local reputation that Muldoon cares about. Read more...

David A. Pickler: The Children's Advocate  Growing up in Jonesboro, Ark., David A. Pickler was a voracious reader. He was especially taken with the biographies of our founding fathers John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. What he read about their lives gave him a deep appreciation for community involvement, citizenship and especially education, he says. Every time you touch the life of a child, you touch eternity, Pickler says. Read more...

David Rae: Racing Against AIDS  Financial advisor David Rae started riding in the AIDS Life/Cycle race just four years ago, and he has since gotten heavily involved in recruiting and fund-raising for the event. The seven-day race, which raised $11 million last year for Los Angeles-area HIV and AIDS support, takes cyclists from San Francisco to Los Angeles along a 545-mile scenic coastal route in early June. Read more...

Scott A. Tilley: Pitching In  Scott A. Tilley shares something in common with the 150 disabled children playing baseball this spring in High Point's Miracle League. “The first thing you notice about Scott is the big smile on his face,” says Don Scarborough, vice president of community relations at High Point University. Tilley sees that same happiness in the kids in the High Point Miracle League, which he was instrumental in getting up and running. Read more...

Steven Tonkinson: Hands On  Financial advisor Steven Tonkinson uses his quick intelligence to solve investment problems and build portfolios for clients. But outside of the office, he uses his hands and his instincts to help relieve crises in places that have been struck by environmental disasters. Read more...

John Vita: Champion for Children  John Vita's twin interests in the financial services business and in helping those less fortunate than himself began at an early age. Vita's father Robert was a Merrill Lynch broker for 40 years, and Vita recalls that as a boy, he loved going to his father's office and playing with the ticker and the Quotron machine. He was also involved in community service projects as an active member of the local Kiwanis Club, a global aid organization that helps children. Read more...